By Taylor MacPherson

Montreal Lake man sentenced for assaulting 9-year-old

Jan 22, 2018 | 1:00 PM

CONTENT WARNING

A Montreal Lake man was handed jail time this morning for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl in April of 2016.

Fabian Smith, 24, received a sentence of four months in custody and 18 months’ probation this morning after pleading guilty to sexual assault and being unlawfully in a dwelling house. Crown prosecutor Gail Douglas said the young victim, who was sleeping on the couch in the home of her father on the Montreal Lake Cree Nation, awoke to find Smith in the family’s living room.

Despite not knowing Smith, Douglas said the girl asked him to take her to her biological mother’s home, which was about a five-minute walk away. After leaving the home along with the girl, Douglas said Smith pushed her into a stand of bushes and sexually assaulted her.

The assault was quickly interrupted, Douglas said, by the “timely intervention” of a neighbour who heard a commotion and investigated. The neighbour rushed outside wielding a bar, Douglas said, and chased Smith away from the scene shortly after the assault began. The neighbour was able to identify the perpetrator by name, she noted, and Smith was arrested only a few hours later.

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The young victim was uninjured during the assault, Douglas said. She was taken to hospital in Prince Albert by her mother, but was “in good spirits” throughout and did not appear to have suffered significant physical or psychological harm.

Defence lawyer Michelle Caron said her client was struggling with alcohol abuse at the time of the offense, and is now taking responsibility for his actions.

“He does not have a criminal record up to this point,” she said. “He’s not a high risk to reoffend.”

Based on a joint submission put forward by Douglas and Caron, Justice R.C. Mills sentenced Smith to four months in a provincial correctional centre, followed by 18 months’ probation. During his probation, Smith will be required to comply with a nightly curfew, abstain from alcohol, and attend sex offender and addictions programming as directed by his probation officer. He was also ordered to comply with the Sex Offender Information Registry Act for a period of 10 years and was barred from any contact with the young victim, whose identity is protected by a court ordered publication ban.

Mills noted the sentence was less than it might have otherwise been because the Crown chose to proceed on the matter as a summary conviction, limiting the maximum possible sentence to six months. Although he accepted the proposed sentence, Mills noted it would likely have been much more severe if the Crown had proceeded by indictment instead.

“You would have been in jail for at least a year,” he told Smith. “You’re a fortunate person.”

Smith, who appeared in court wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, kissed his common-law partner as he was handcuffed by a deputy sheriff and escorted from the courtroom.

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TaylorMacP