High-risk sex offender released pending trial on new charges
A high-risk sex offender who has been held in custody after new charges were laid against him last summer will be re-released on a long-term supervision order, the Parole Board of Canada says.
James Patrick Benson, 40, had been living with his family under the supervision order until he was charged in June 2019 with assaulting a woman. “You apparently forcibly bear-hugged the victim and took her to the ground in a wooded area. You choked the victim to the point she urinated in her pants,” board member Kevin D’Souza wrote in his May 28 ruling. “The victim eventually broke free and yelled for help. Four individuals were walking toward her as she exited the woods. You claimed the victim was the aggressor.”
Because of the allegations, Benson had to return to a halfway house. Then in August, he was remanded into custody on the new charges.
On April 9, he was granted bail pending trial and allowed to return to the community on the original 10-year supervision order, which expires in 2021.
However, it was suspended again on April 14, when he got agitated during a meeting with his parole supervisor. At that point, Correctional Service Canada “deemed your risk undue and suspended your (long-term supervision order),” D’Souza said.
The board member laid out Benson’s lengthy criminal history, noting he completed his most recent federal sentence in December 2010 for using an imitation firearm, extortion, assault with a weapon and breaching a court order. The charges stemmed from a four-hour armed standoff at Calgary city hall in 2007.
While on the supervision order, he has violated it four times, D’Souza said.
Benson also has convictions for attempted murder, sexual assault with a weapon and uttering threats related to a brutal 1996 knifepoint rape.
D’Souza said that Benson’s criminal history is “a significant concern as it points to the harm you are capable of causing.”
But he also said that Benson has “not been convicted of new offences and you have the right to defend yourself against the charges.”
“The concern for the board lies in looking at your past criminal behaviour and the similarities of past convictions to the charges you are facing. The board also notes its concern about your ability to manage your emotions, when faced with unexpected information as you have reacted violently in the past when you believe government agencies have treated you unfairly,” D’Souza said.
The parole board member noted that Benson was physically and sexually abused as a child in foster care.
But D’Souza said “that the resumption of long-term supervision will not constitute a substantial risk to society by reason of your reoffending before the expiration of your (long-term supervision order).”
Benson must abide by a dozen conditions, including living in a halfway house, abstaining from drugs and alcohol, and continuing with “psychiatric counselling to address mental health and reintegration issues.”