“I THOUGHT SHE WAS 18”

A 27-year-old man who had sex with an 11-year-old Penticton girl will have to wait at least another week to learn his fate.

At a sentencing hearing held in a Penticton courtroom, Monday, Judge Meg Shaw reserved her decision on Rick Allen, a former Penticton resident who now lives in Vernon. The Crown is calling for a jail sentence of between nine and 12 months, along with probation and other conditions. His defence is asking for 90 days intermittent jail time, followed by probation.

Three years ago, Allen met a girl on the dating website Plenty of Fish, who claimed to be an 18-year-old single mother. The two corresponded briefly before meeting late at night on Feb. 23, 2014.

After a short walk, the two returned to his boarding house where she met two of his roommates. After watching a movie, they retired to his bedroom where they twice engaged in sexual intercourse. They did not use contraception. According to agreed facts by both parties, the girl was a willing participant.

The girl had snuck out of her house after her mother went to bed. Her mother later discovered she was missing and contacted police. The girl’s uncle helped locate her by tracking her cellphone and later following small footprints in the snow. Allen was soon arrested and told police, “She told me she was 18.”

The two roommates later told police due to her developed hips and chest, they did not suspect she was as young as 11. The girl was heavily made up and had part of her temple shaved.

Allen said from dialogue with the girl that evening there were clues to suggest she was still in school and he suspected she was as young as 14 or 15.

The court was told Allen had a difficult upbringing and suffers from ADHD. At the time of the offence, he was unemployed, estranged from his parents, did not have a support network in place, and had no close friends. The court was told he does not have any prior convictions and a psychiatric assessment placed his chance of reoffending at low to moderate. He has no underlying pedophilic tendencies, the report says.

Crown counsel Nashina Devji said intercourse is on the “high end of the scale of sexual assault” and the girl was “an extremely vulnerable victim.”

Devji was unable to find similar case law, noting it was an unusual set of circumstances as events such as these often involve luring and child pornography.

The Crown recognized that Allen co-operated early in the investigation and his guilty plea saved the victim the trauma of having to testify in court.

Although the girl did not supply a victim impact statement, Devji said she’s now in counselling and is carrying a “heavy burden.”

Defence counsel James Pennington said Allen is now in an age-appropriate relationship and lives in Vernon with his partner and their six-month-old daughter. He said his client has no reason to return to Penticton.

Due to his ADHD, Allen has been unable to secure steady employment and is now a stay-athome father tending also to his partner’s other child from a previous marriage. His partner cleans houses during the day. She and their child were in court Monday and she described Allen as “an ideal father.”

Suggesting 90 days of jail time, Pennington believes the counselling his client requires won’t be available in jail.

Shaw said with no case law to reference she will have “some difficulty” making a decision. A date for her decision will be set next Monday.