Crown seeks eight years for break-in and sexual assault

The “persistent” and “predatory” behaviour of a man who broke into a downtown residence and sexually assaulted its female occupant warrants an eight-year prison term, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

But the lawyer for Richard Junior Grey said his conduct would normally draw a five-year sentence but, taking into account his guilty pleas and Indigenous background, a four-year term would be adequate.

Crown lawyer Jason Wuttunee said the psychological harm suffered by the victim was significant.

Grey broke into an apartment in downtown’s East Village Oct. 5, after stalking other victims in the area. Once inside, he went to a couple’s bedroom where the wife was asleep.

When she awoke and realized there was a stranger in her room, she screamed for her husband, who came racing to her aid.

But the towering Grey — who is well over six feet — was able to force the couple into another room and locked it while he looked through the apartment, eventually returning with one of the woman’s dresses. He ordered her to change into it and, when she initially refused, he threatened her, forcing her to capitulate. Once she changed, he indicated he wanted to masturbate to her wearing the dress, but once he started, the husband jumped him and the woman escaped.

Police, who had been alerted by a security officer who saw the break in, quickly arrived, but three of them struggled to subdue Grey before he was placed in a choke hold and knocked unconscious.

Wuttunee told provincial court Judge Margaret Keelaghan that Grey, who was high on crystal meth, poses an ongoing danger to Calgarians, noting he had just finished a 2 1/2-year sentence for a break in with a sexual component 10 days earlier.

But defence lawyer Rebecca Snukal said there was no evidence Grey had planned the break in, noting he was going “from one event to another event” as he stalked women in the area.

“He was clearly intoxicated by drugs,” Snukal said.

In victim-impact statements read in by Wuttunee, both husband and wife, whose identities are protected by a publication ban, expressed ongoing fear because of the intrusion.

“I am no longer able to sleep well at night,” the husband wrote, explaining they had to add extra security measures to their home to feel some sense of safety.

Added the wife: “I have never felt the same since this assault violated my personal security and made me feel a prisoner in my home.”