Woman faces five years for sex assault

C A LG A RY The years-long sexual relationship a former Calgary social worker had with a teenage boy under her supervision should land her up to five years in prison, a prosecutor argued Monday.

But the lawyer for Beverly Allard said the sentencing range for her crime would be three to four years, and Justice Lisa Silver could even go lower than that.

Silver convicted Allard, 65, last October, ruling she abused her position of trust over her victim and engaged in sexual acts with him for at least a two-year period, when he was in a relationship of dependency toward her.

The Calgary Court of King's Bench judge rejected suggestions by defence counsel Dale Knisely that the initial 1990 incident of sexual intercourse between Allard and the 14-year-old boy was an act of rape by the teen.

Knisely had suggested the sexual relationship that followed was the result of his client being raped.

But Silver found the now-47year-old victim to be a credible witness when he testified that he and Allard first had sex in her Calgary home when he was AWOL from his secure placement at William Roper Hull Home.

She found his credibility was bolstered by Allard's own statement to Edmonton police in 1998, eight years after her first sexual encounter with the minor, when she wanted him out of her life.

In that statement, Allard told an officer she felt like the fictional character Mrs. Robinson from the 1968 movie The Graduate. In the film, Dustin Hoffman plays a college graduate who falls for an older woman played by Anne Bancroft.

Crown prosecutor Donna Spaner said the victim's young age and Allard's breach of her position of trust toward him were aggravating factors that justified a punishment in the four- to five-year range.

The case is adjourned until April 26, while Knisely contemplates seeking a mistrial for what he suggests is late disclosure.