B.C. man who sexually assaulted nieces gets 11-year term

A B.C. man who was convicted of sex offences against five young girls, four of them his nieces, has been sentenced to 11 years in jail.

The Crown applied to have the accused, who is only referred to by the initials T.L.P. to protect the victims, designated a dangerous offender, but the trial judge, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Barry Davies, declined to do so.

Instead, the judge handed T.L.P. a 10-year, long-term supervision order.

In his ruling, Davies said the most significant difference between a dangerous offender designation and a long-term offender designation involved an assessment of risk.

If T.L.P. was likely to reoffend, he should be named a dangerous offender, said the judge. If it was established he was a significant risk to reoffend, he should be designated a long-term offender, he said.

“I am convinced that given the high degree of risk that T.L.P. will, if unsupervised, reoffend sexually against prepubescent female children, the protection of such children requires that a long-term supervision order of the maximum allowable length be imposed in this case,” concluded the judge.

In April 2015, T.L.P. was convicted of 13 sex offences, including sexual assault, invitation to sexual touching and sexual interference, against the victims. The offences were committed over a period extending from 2001-13.

He committed sex offences against one victim when he came to live with his sister and her husband in Prince George in February 2012. He molested the girl, aged four to five years old, from February 2012 to December 2012.

Two of his other victims — a seven-year-old niece and a five-yearold niece — were molested while he was babysitting them.

At trial, he tried to argue the girls were somehow capable of consenting to the sex offences he committed. The judge called that belief “repugnant.” T.L.P. also attempted to justify his behaviour by saying he needed to teach the girls about all aspects of sexual behaviour, so they could avoid becoming victims of sex predators, to “pedophile proof ” them.

The Crown called for a determinate sentence of between 12 to 16 years in prison, while the defence argued an appropriate jail sentence was six years. After receiving credit for pre-sentence custody, T.L.P. will have seven years in jail left.

The judge said the terms of the long-term supervision order, which will be in effect after T.L.P.’s release from prison, will in large measure be dependent upon his participation in sex-offender treatment programs while incarcerated.