6-month term for sex offender

A man who pleaded guilty to exposing himself to a young family at the Johnson-Bentley Memorial Aquatic Centre in West Kelowna one year ago has one more day to spend behind bars after being sentenced to six months in prison.

On Feb. 25, 2017, pool staff called police at 7:20 p.m. to report a man had exposed himself in the family change room.

A witness told police he was in the change room with his wife and children when his wife told him a halfnaked man was “playing with himself,” said Crown prosecutor Mallory Treddenick.

“The man could see the individual holding his penis in his hand and both his daughters were staring at the individual,” she said. “The male was clearly sexually aroused and was staring at the infant son.”

Police located the suspect inside the change room, and the Kelowna man was arrested.

On June 14, 2017, Joseph Perkins pleaded guilty to exposing himself to a child under the age of 16.

He has a long criminal record, including previous charges of indecent acts and sexual assault.

Crown and defence presented a joint submission of six months in jail followed by a three-year probation. Judge Ellen Burdett accepted the joint submission. Perkins was in jail for 162 days and received credit for 243 days, longer than the six-month sentence.

Burdett ordered Perkins to serve one more day in jail.

Perkins is also banned for 10 years from attending parks, community centres, public swimming areas, schools and daycare centres where children under the age of 16 are present or could reasonably be expected to be present.

An assessment was ordered for Perkins to evaluate his risk to the community, but he did not show up for his psychiatrist appointment, the court heard.

Since he had already served longer than his sixmonth sentence, Burdett said it was not appropriate to delay sentencing even longer to order the report.