Crown to file appeal of house arrest for sex assaults on boys

The Crown prosecutor’s office has decided to appeal the sentence of house arrest given to the former head of a Christian summer camp for three sex assaults committed against teenage boys.

Mark Archibald, the former manager of Camp Silversides on Gull Lake in central Alberta, was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest in February after he pleaded guilty to sex assaults against three boys dating to the 1970s.

The victims, who cannot be named because of a publication ban, came forward only last year and were disappointed at his sentencing that he had avoided jail time.

Archibald pleaded guilty to crimes ranging from touching a boy’s genitals to forced oral sex. The crimes happened in Calgary and at the camp.

The Crown was seeking over two years in prison, but the judge dis- agreed, leaving the victims and their families frustrated and worried the sentence sent the wrong message.

“I’m elated,” said Jake, not his real name, the victim who got filed the initial complaint. “I had no idea. I thought it was a done deal.

“It gives me some (indication) that people are actually taking this seriously.”

In an appeal filed in March in Red Deer, the Crown’s office said it believed the sentence was unfit, wasn’t proportionate to the offences and didn’t serve to denounce the crime and deter others.

At the sentencing hearing in February in Red Deer, Archibald’s lawyer argued for a conditional sentence, saying Archibald pleaded guilty, was co-operative with the investigation, was remorseful and had no prior criminal history.

Calls to Archibald’s home and to his lawyer’s office were not returned.