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Decision information:
Abstract: Transcript of the Reasons for Sentence
Decision Content
R. v. Simpson, 2015 NWTSC 45 S-1-CR-2-15-000024
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
IN THE MATTER OF:
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
- v -
BRUNO SIMPSON
__________________________________________________________
Transcript of the Reasons for Sentence delivered by The
Honourable Justice K. Shaner, sitting in Yellowknife, in
the Northwest Territories, on the 1st day of September, 2015.
__________________________________________________________
APPEARANCES:
Ms. J. Scott: Counsel for the Crown
Mr. T. Bock: Counsel for the Accused
(Charge under s. 348(1)(b) of the Criminal Code of Canada)
No information shall be published in any document
or broadcast or transmitted in any way which could
identify the victim or a witness in these proceedings
pursuant to s. 486.4 of the Criminal Code
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1 THE COURT: Mr. Bruno Simpson entered a
2 guilty plea to a charge of break and entering
3 with the intent to commit the indictable offence
4 of sexual assault on the victim contrary to
5 Section 348(1)(b) of the Criminal Code.
6 I have had an opportunity to consider your
7 submissions, counsel, as well as the facts that
8 are agreed upon, the pre-sentence report of March
9 26th, 2014, and the Victim Impact Statements, as
10 well as Mr. Simpson's criminal record and the
11 previous Victim Impact Statement from the
12 previous proceedings. So I will give my decision
13 on sentence and the reasons for it now.
14 Counsel made a joint submission for three
15 years' custody and, from this, there would be
16 deducted credit for pre-sentence custody of nine
17 months, or 274 days, leaving a period of two
18 years and three months to be served.
19 Although this is a penitentiary term
20 sentence, counsel indicated that it is
21 anticipated Mr. Simpson will serve his sentence
22 here in the Northwest Territories at the North
23 Slave Correctional Centre, where he has been
24 incarcerated since December 2nd of 2014, and
25 arrangements have been made by the Crown for
26 Mr. Simpson to take sex offender and substance
27 abuse programming at NSCC during the term of
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1 custody that I am going to impose.
2 For reasons that I am going to provide
3 presently, I find the sentence that is proposed
4 jointly by counsel is within the range for this
5 offence, and taking into account the aggravating
6 and mitigating factors as well as the impact on
7 the victim and her mother and Mr. Simpson's own
8 personal circumstances, it is appropriate and it
9 is the sentence that should be imposed.
10 The sentence of three years' custody will
11 achieve the primary objectives of denunciation
12 and deterrence while at the same time promoting
13 rehabilitation and recognition of the systemic
14 factors which diminish, somewhat, moral
15 blameworthiness on the part of this offender.
16 Throughout these reasons I will be referring
17 to the victim as "the victim" rather than by her
18 name or by her initials as there is a publication
19 ban respecting information which would identify
20 her.
21 A statement of agreed facts, which has been
22 marked as Exhibit S1, was read into the record.
23 I am not going to repeat those facts verbatim
24 here, but I will summarize them so that there is
25 some context to these reasons.
26 On the evening of December 1st, 2014, the
27 victim, who was 13 years old at the time, was
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1 sleeping in the bedroom of her home in a small
2 community in the Northwest Territories. She
3 awoke to find Mr. Simpson in her bedroom. She
4 moved to the corner of her bed, under the covers,
5 and told Mr. Simpson to leave. He asked her why
6 and then proceeded to get on her bed and he tried
7 to get on top of her. The victim pushed him
8 away, telling him again to leave. He did not.
9 He kept asking, "Why?" During the time he was on
10 the bed, he touched the victim's legs.
11 Having heard her daughter screaming for
12 Mr. Simpson to leave, the victim's mother entered
13 the room. She found Mr. Simpson who had hidden
14 himself in the closet. She screamed at him to
15 leave at which point he ran down the hallway and
16 left the residence.
17 At the time of this offence, Mr. Simpson was
18 on probation in connection with a youth
19 conviction sustained in March 2014 for sexual
20 assault against the same victim. He had also
21 received a custodial sentence for that offence.
22 Both the victim and her mother prepared and
23 filed Victim Impact Statements. The victim asked
24 that her statement not be read aloud in court;
25 however, it is clear that it had a tremendous
26 impact on her and, given the circumstances, that
27 is not at all surprising. When something like
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1 this occurs in the sanctity of one's home, in
2 one's own bedroom, it is bound to have a
3 significant effect on the victim's ability to
4 feel secure in an environment which ought to be
5 safe.
6 The victim also expressed concern for the
7 impact that this has had on her grandmother and
8 her mother. She describes her mother as crying
9 when relaying the incident to the police, and she
10 does not want either of them to worry anymore.
11 That is a tremendous burden for a child to bear.
12 Finally, she indicated that she feels safer
13 since Mr. Simpson has been held in custody.
14 The victim's mother did request that her
15 statement be read aloud in court. It is Exhibit
16 S6, and pursuant to her request, I am going to
17 read that statement aloud.
18 The victim's mother states the following in
19 her Victim Impact Statement:
20 Since the incident, I have been
feeling scared for my daughter as
21 well as for this community and our
children. I have cried just about
22 every night, cried in fear and
more paranoid on whether if the
23 door are locked, looking through
every window making sure no one is
24 peeking through the windows. Just
about every night I've heard my
25 youngest daughter crying and
hearing her made me cry with pain.
26 I felt lost and miserable, but
more I felt useless for my little
27 girl. Watching her in pain,
hiding it away from me and the
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1 help we provided her with by
talking to friends, services from
2 people that come to Wekweeti, yet
for many months since her 1st
3 attack, she's been eating more and
gaining so much weight. I've been
4 feeling pain and confusion about
how this could have all happened
5 to my innocent baby girl. I am
still in pain and will always feel
6 it.
7 Exhibit S2 is a pre-sentence report which
8 was prepared for the Territorial Court of the
9 Northwest Territories respecting the other
10 conviction. This, combined with Mr. Simpson's
11 lawyer's submissions, provided me with valuable
12 information about him.
13 Mr. Simpson is an aboriginal man who is now
14 20 years old. He was 19 when this offence
15 occurred. He has a Grade 10 education.
16 He grew up in an environment where he was
17 able to learn traditional skills and knowledge
18 through spending time with his father and
19 grandfather on the land. Unfortunately, he also
20 grew up in a home where he was subject to
21 physical abuse at the hands of his father who
22 abused alcohol. He also witnessed physical abuse
23 perpetrated on his mother by his father.
24 He was sexually assaulted by an older female
25 when he was five years old and he was sexually
26 assaulted by a man when he was 13. Contributing
27 to the trauma of this last event was the fact
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1 that he was held for a period of time and,
2 further, that he was unable to talk about it with
3 anyone and obtain counselling and support for it
4 until very recently. Indeed, at the time that
5 the pre-sentence report was written, he would
6 only describe it as a traumatic event and he
7 would not disclose the details of it. At the
8 same time, he felt that the whole community knew
9 about it.
10 It was also reported that in 2013
11 Mr. Simpson was admitted to hospital for
12 assessment following an episode of auditory
13 hallucinations. At the time, he was diagnosed
14 with drug-induced psychosis and situational
15 crisis. He had, prior to that, been using
16 marijuana, which his lawyer indicates he started
17 using around 16 years of age. He was prescribed
18 medication for the hallucinations. He is not
19 currently on medication.
20 As noted earlier, Mr. Simpson has been at
21 North Slave Correctional Centre since December
22 2nd, 2014, and, while there, the Court heard that
23 he has used his time in a manner which supports
24 his stated desire to live a productive and
25 crime-free life. His lawyer indicated
26 Mr. Simpson has participated in counselling. He
27 watches movies with lessons about religion and
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1 how to cope with life's problems. He has
2 established positive relationships, something he
3 has had difficulty doing historically. He works
4 in the kitchen at NSCC beginning at 5 a.m. each
5 day, which gives his day structure. His lawyer
6 says this is something of which he is proud, and
7 he has applied for another job as a gym cleaner.
8 Mr. Simpson hopes to obtain a high school
9 education and possibly pursue post-secondary
10 studies.
11 Mr. Simpson has a criminal record. As a
12 youth, he sustained convictions for sexual
13 assault and sexual interference against two young
14 girls, one of whom, as mentioned, is the same
15 victim as in this case. He also has convictions
16 for breaching conditions, one of which was
17 sustained as an adult.
18 When asked if he would like to make
19 submissions on his own behalf, Mr. Simpson was
20 firm in accepting responsibility for his crime
21 and he appeared genuinely remorseful. He also
22 confirmed that he is eager to make positive
23 changes in his life.
24 The Crown cited a number of aggravating
25 circumstances in this case. The victim was 13
26 years old. This is deemed by the Criminal Code
27 to be an aggravating factor. This was the second
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1 time that Mr. Simpson had sexual assaulted her
2 and he was on probation at the time with a
3 condition that he have no contact with her. Even
4 more troubling is that what seems to have played
5 out is a scenario over which the victim had
6 expressed concern in the Victim Impact Statement
7 she prepared for the last incident. In that
8 statement, she indicated she had nightmares about
9 someone being in her dark room, watching her
10 sleep. She worried Mr. Simpson was in the
11 hallway or elsewhere in her house. And as the
12 Crown pointed out, Mr. Simpson would have been
13 present in court when this Victim Impact
14 Statement was described or read out. At the very
15 least, this is a very disturbing factor.
16 As noted, Mr. Simpson has a criminal record,
17 including convictions for sexual offences.
18 Admittedly, the record is not a long one;
19 however, it is significant that he has, by the
20 age 20, incurred convictions for now four sexual
21 offences as well as those for breaching court
22 orders.
23 The circumstances under which this offence
24 was committed are deemed by the Criminal Code,
25 and are, in fact, aggravating. It happened in
26 the victim's bedroom in her home. She was in bed
27 and her mother was home.
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1 There are a number of mitigating factors in
2 this case as well. Mr. Simpson never denied the
3 charge and he took full responsibility for his
4 actions. He cooperated with the police. The
5 guilty plea came at a very early time. No
6 preliminary hearing was necessary, sparing the
7 victim and her family the necessity of having to
8 testify in court. The manner in which
9 Mr. Simpson has used his time at the North Slave
10 Correctional Centre to date as well as his stated
11 willingness and apparent concrete plan to take
12 sex offender and substance abuse programming once
13 it is available at North Slave Correctional
14 Centre are also mitigating. They demonstrate a
15 commitment by Mr. Simpson to do what he can to
16 contribute to his own rehabilitation, and given
17 his age and his limited criminal record, there is
18 great hope for rehabilitation in this case.
19 Gladue factors are also relevant here, and I
20 have taken them into account in determining that
21 the three-year sentence suggested by the Crown
22 and the defence is appropriate.
23 Mr. Simpson, like many young aboriginal men
24 who appear in this court, was a victim of the
25 dysfunction of his family and some members of his
26 community. He was victimized at a vulnerable and
27 impressionable time in his life by his father, by
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1 his sister's friend, and by a man who came to the
2 community for work. While on probation, he lived
3 in his home community. He was isolated
4 geographically, and no doubt financially, from
5 the kinds of resources and infrastructure needed
6 to help overcome and deal with the result of that
7 dysfunction and, more importantly, to get on the
8 road to rehabilitation, resources that might be
9 found in a larger place or which could be
10 accessed by someone of greater financial means.
11 These factors, in my view, diminish to some
12 degree Mr. Simpson's moral blameworthiness. They
13 do not, however, remove it altogether, nor do
14 they operate to justify a non-custodial sentence
15 or a sentence less than what is proposed.
16 The appropriate starting point for this
17 offence is three years and that was confirmed by
18 the Alberta Court of Appeal in R. v. T.L.G., 2006
19 ABCA 313. But for the mitigating circumstances
20 and the Gladue factors, a much longer sentence
21 might be justified, something in the
22 neighbourhood of four and a half to five years.
23 This is a serious crime with significant effects
24 for a young victim who has suffered not once but
25 twice from Mr. Simpson's actions. It is the type
26 of crime that absolutely cries out for a
27 custodial penalty of some significance in order
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1 to achieve the objectives of denunciation and
2 deterrence, and indeed this is reflected in the
3 fact that the maximum penalty for this offence is
4 life in prison.
5 Mr. Simpson, please stand. Bruno Simpson, I
6 hereby sentence you to a term of three years'
7 imprisonment for the crime of break and enter
8 with intent to commit the indictable offence of
9 sexual assault. You can sit down.
10 From the three years, as I said, will be
11 deducted 274 days representing credit for time
12 spent in remand awaiting this sentencing hearing.
13 This is calculated on the basis of 183 days at a
14 credit rate of 1.5 days for each day spent in
15 pre-sentence custody.
16 I will also impose an order that you must
17 provide a sample of your bodily fluids for DNA
18 analysis, and there will be a lifetime SOIRA
19 order. There will also be a firearms prohibition
20 which will remain in effect for ten years.
21 Counsel is there anything else?
22 MS. SCOTT: No, Your Honour.
23 THE COURT: Mr. Bock?
24 MR. BOCK: No, Your Honour.
25 THE COURT: Thank you.
26 Mr. Simpson, work hard, take the programming
27 that is offered to you in prison. You need to
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1 get back on track, because, if you do not, there
2 can be very, very serious and much more egregious
3 consequences for you in the future.
4 Thank you, counsel.
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8 Certified Pursuant to Rule 723
of the Rules of Court
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Jane Romanowich, CSR(A)
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