"What a farce" was the comment from one of those leaving the Battleford court house after a three-year sentence was imposed on convicted sex offender Paul Leroux Thursday afternoon.
Leroux was sentenced in connection to eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency for incidents that took place while he was a dormitory supervisor at Beauval Indian Residential School in the 1960s. The victims were boys and teenagers at the time.
The three-year total sentence imposed on all counts stunned observers at Queen's Bench court in Battleford and immediately prompted talk from the Crown about launching an appeal.
In the sentence handed down by Justice Murray Acton, Leroux was sentenced to 18 months on three counts, six months on one count and three years on four counts of indecent assault. The two gross indecency counts would have been one year each and would have run concurrent to two of the three-year indecent assault sentences.
Adding up the indecent assault counts consecutively would have meant a total sentence of 17 years, which Acton said would be "crushing, long and harsh."
Instead, under the totality principle of sentencing, Acton said all the sentences would run concurrently.
That means Leroux's sentence will run a total of three years, minus the 36 days of remand he has already served. He also receives a firearms prohibition and a DNA sample was ordered.
In sentencing submissions the week before, Crown prosecutor Mitch Piche called for an overall sentence of 11 years for Leroux. That would have itself been a reduction under the totality principle from a potentially crushing 25.5 year sentence that could have included a number of consecutive sentences.
In speaking to reporters outside the court house Thursday, Piche made known his dissatisfaction with the sentence.
"I think it's too low under the circumstances," Piche said.
"I'll have to, of course, consider my position, but I expect I will be calling my head office to see about launching an appeal of sentence. I just don't think it's a just and fair sentence in the circumstances."
In his ruling, Acton accepted the notion from case law that the "starting point" for major sexual assault offences in Saskatchewan was three years, which could be raised or lowered based on aggravating or mitigating factors.
As aggravating factors Acton noted young boys were involved, that there was a breach of trust and that the accused was not remorseful; he also noted the profound effect on the victims, among other factors.
But Acton cited among the mitigating factors Leroux's age of 73, that Leroux has not reoffended since the 1970s, that he had already been publicly embarrassed following a previous conviction for sexual abuse in 1998 and also noted the risk of Leroux reoffending was low to negligible.
The maximum sentence for indecent assault is 10 years; for gross indecency, the maximum is five years.
Victims of Leroux and their families were clearly unhappy inside the courtroom as the sentence was being read, and were even more visibly upset outside. One of the victims broke down in tears over what had transpired.
"I think it is a farce given the number of offences he is facing," was the reaction one of them had in speaking to reporters. The individual cannot be named by a court order.
"I don't think age should have ever been a factor in his sentencing because he sure didn't consider the age of the people he molested. I don't see any justice in the sentence that he got."
Another victim, also covered by a publication ban, voiced disgust with the entire justice system.
"I'm totally disappointed," he said, adding it was a case of "the system working against the victims. Here, the justice system is saying it's okay to molest young people, especially if they're aboriginal. To me I feel, I say, if it were 14 white boys, this case would be a heck of a lot different than it is today. That is my total feeling. I feel so totally inadequate, I feel my life is worthless."
He also made known his concern that Leroux would be out of jail in no time.
"With good behavior he'll be out of there in seven months, he'll be out of there by next summer, while we have to live with what he's done to us."
