Edmonton man handed 14-year prison term for online targeting, sexual exploitation of girls

A man who used social media to manipulate and sexually exploit young girls in the Edmonton area will spend more than a decade in prison.

Imesh Ratnayake, 23, pleaded guilty to 11 criminal charges in August, admitting that over nearly three years, he committed sexual offences against eight girls between the ages of 11 and 16.

Court of King's Bench Justice James Neilson accepted a joint submission from Crown prosecutors and Ratnayake's defence lawyer on Friday for a 14-year prison term.

With enhanced credit for nearly two years he has already spent in custody at the Edmonton Remand Centre, he has about 11 years left in his sentence.

Before the sentence was handed down Friday, the mother of one of the girls stood in the courtroom and looked directly at Ratnayake, who stared at the floor in the prisoner's box.

"My daughter was one of the children that you harmed," she told him.

The woman, who can't be named to protect her daughter's identity, has experience working with youth victims of sexual abuse. Reading a victim impact statement, she described the horror of learning that images of her own daughter had been found.

"I hope you recognize how far the harm that you have caused ripples out," she said.

"I hope you understand that in harming one child, you harm a community and an ancestral line. I hope you understand that."

Crown prosecutor Sarah Goard-Baker read a victim impact statement submitted by another girl's mother.

"[Ratnayake] has the opportunity to rehabilitate, but the innocence from the children he stole can only be bandaged," the woman said.

"This will taint their lives forever and affect the trajectory of their future, and for that he does not deserve any mercy."

'Truly damaging, lifelong harm'

According to agreed facts in the case, Ratnayake primarily used Snapchat to seek out the girls and began communicating with them. He sometimes falsely presented himself as a teenager, even though he was an adult.

Offences against the girls varied. In some cases, he convinced them to send him nude photos or explicit videos, or to engage in video calls while he directed them to perform sexual acts.

He extorted some of the girls when they tried to cut off contact with him, threatening that he would share images of them that, unbeknownst to them, he had recorded.

Two of the youngest girls in the case agreed to meet him in person, and he sexually abused them and filmed it on his phone.

Goard-Baker told the court that Ratnayake engaged in "premeditated, sophisticated and prolonged efforts" to seek out and victimize young girls.

"Mr. Ratnayake engaged not just in manipulation and coercion but threats of exposure if the girls did not comply with his demands."

Ratnayake was initially headed to a six-week trial this fall, but it was called off after his guilty plea. Goard-Baker said that's a significant mitigating factor in his sentence, since it spared the victims and their families the additional trauma of testifying.

Defence lawyer David Phillips said the plea shows his client's sense of responsibility and remorse.

"He's had an enormous opportunity of self-reflection in regards to what's happened here. I think he's an ideal candidate for rehabilitation," he said.

After his time in prison, Ratnayake will continue to have restrictions on his internet access and from having contact with anyone younger than 16.

As the sentencing process ended, Justice Neilson noted how serious the offences were, and the lengthy prison sentence handed down in the case.

"I can't emphasize how difficult a situation we are in in society with the proliferation of coercive internet communication and so-called social media," he said.

"The potential for mischief and truly damaging, lifelong harm is alarming to this court. It's alarming to society."