Teen years lost to sex assault

The victim of sexual exploitation read her victim impact statement in Vernon provincial court on Tuesday.

The identity of the victim and offender cannot be named under a publication ban put in place to protect the victim’s identity.

In her statement, the victim said she felt isolated from her peers, and had trouble eating and sleeping as a result of the assault.

“When I think of what it has been like to be a teenager, all I can recall are the assaults,” said the victim.

The offender has already been found guilty of sexual exploitation in this case, as he was in a position of authority and the victim was between the ages of 16 and 18 at the time of the offence. He was expected to be sentenced on Tuesday, but time did not permit for sentencing which will happen at a later date.

Court heard the offender engaged in sexual intercourse, oral sex and other sexual touching on multiple occasions with the victim. The acts took place over the course of about two months from December 2021 to February 2022, and the relationship came to an end when the victim's mother found out about it.

The victim said she believed the offender's interest in her was friendly and harmless at first.

“How could I have thought otherwise? I was 15 and he was at least 10 years older than me,” the victim said.

“But when the assault started, I felt scared, powerless, helpless and desperate to escape. I wanted so badly to pretend my life was normal, to be just another teenager instead of someone enduring such trauma.”

Crown counsel Matthew Blow is seeking jail time of one to three years alongside a probation order.

Defence lawyer Cassandra Tam is looking for a conditional sentence of six to 12 months — meaning the offender would be placed under house arrest.

The offender will need to wait a little while longer to hear what his sentence will be as court ran out of time to issue a sentence in court on Tuesday.