Rape victim treated 'like a piece of meat'

A 21-year-old Eskasoni man has been sentenced to four years in prison for a series of brutal sexual assaults against a former girlfriend.

Gerald Joseph Dennis was tried in August.  The decision by provincial court judge Jean Whalen was released on Tuesday.

The court heard how Dennis's victim went to police in October of last year, saying she had been sexually assaulted several times. She told police Dennis had also threatened her, and threatened to assault anyone she was dating.

The woman also told police that during an earlier attempt to reconcile with Dennis, he grabbed her, threw her on the bed, ripped her clothes off and raped her. She said he kept her arms pinned during the attack.

She was only able to escape when she kicked him in the groin.

At his trial, the court heard how Dennis had been charged with numerous offences, including kicking in the front window of Jacobson's Ladies Wear in Sydney.  The store asked for, and was granted, restitution of $1,044.78 to replace the broken window.

In considering her sentence, the judge weighed a victim impact statement.

"She is frightened of people and ashamed of what happened," Judge Whalen wrote.  "She is seeking counselling.  She does not want any contact with Mr. Dennis."

Later in her decision Whalen wrote: "In this case there were other violent acts perpetrated by the defendant; he taunted and laughed at her saying 'women are nothing.'"

"He treated her like a piece of meat," Whalen wrote.  "Mr. Dennis should be ashamed of himself."

In addition to the prison sentence and the order to repay the store for the broken window, Dennis also goes on the national sex offender registry, must give a DNA sample and faces a firearms ban.