Repeated sexual assaults of young girls earns man dangerous offender label
Sexually preying on young girls even while under intense police monitoring has landed a repeat child molester a dangerous offender tag.
Justice Nancy Dilts on Monday handed Jonathan Leach an indefinite prison term noting there was little chance his offending behaviour could be controlled in the community any time soon.
“I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Leach poses a high likelihood of harmful recidivism,” Dilts said, in agreeing with Crown prosecutor Todd Buziak that an indeterminate sentence was warranted.
“His inability to control his behaviour constitutes a threat to the life, safety, physical and mental well-being of the public,” she said.
Leach, 30, pleaded guilty last year to sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl in an alley near her home.
He had three prior sexual assaults on even younger girls, two aged five and a three-year-old, and completed a five-year sentence for his last offence just 11 months before his latest transgression.
As a result of his ongoing risk, Leach was placed on a two-year peace bond at the conclusion of his five-year term and was under monitoring by the Calgary police High Risk Offender Program when he molested his latest victim in August 2017.
Dilts noted Leach had been working at a landscaping company when he noticed the girl playing alone in an alley near her home.
After finishing work he went to the alley and encountered her, told her she was in trouble for trespassing, threatened to call the police and directed her to go with him. When he got her to a secluded location he sexually assaulted her.
Part of his community monitoring was that Leach wear an ankle bracelet with GPS tracking.
“Mr. Leach initially denied sexually assaulting the child,” Dilts noted. “However, after being confronted with the GPS data that showed his tracking points, he admitted to sexually assaulting the child.”
The Court of Queen's Bench judge said the fact Leach, a diagnosed pedophile, could not control himself even when under the most intense community supervision available made anything short of an indeterminate sentence too risky.
Confronted with the GPS data that showed his tracking points, he admitted to sexually assaulting the child.
“Mr. Leach was aware of the resources available to him to prevent his reoffending,” she said.
“As articulated by (psychiatrist Dr. Yuri) Metelitsa, Mr. Leach made a series of choices, to ignore his known risk factors; to not assess available resources; to court with the idea of offending; to watch the victim; to return where he expected her to be; and ultimately to sexually assault her.”
Defence counsel Adriano Iovinelli had suggested the judge hand Leach a specific prison term and place him under a long-term offender supervision order, but Dilts said that wouldn't adequately protect society.