P.E.I. man pleads guilty to sex charge after previous conviction overturned

A Charlottetown man has been sentenced to one year in jail for sexual assaulting his step-daughter, following a long court battle in which his previous convictions on multiple sex charges were overturned.

The man was originally charged in 2013 with sex crimes against three daughters of his former girlfriend. The incidents had allegedly taken place over a number of years.

At trial, videotaped statements from the girls were entered as evidence. The man was found guilty and was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

Those criminal convictions were overturned on appeal in 2017. The P.E.I. Court of Appeal ruled the trial judge made a mistake by allowing the videotaped statements to be entered as evidence.

According to the appeal court decision, too much time may have elapsed between the alleged incidents and the recording of the statements, calling the reliability of the girls' memories into question. A new trial was ordered.

The new trial had been slated to go ahead later this year, in front of a supreme court judge and jury.

Other charges stayed

However, on Sept. 6, the man pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault. Eight other charges were stayed.

An agreed statement of facts was provided to the court, signed by the man's defence lawyer and by the crown prosecutor, describing the man's actions involving the three girls.

According to the agreed facts, the man "denies that these [touching incidents] were done for a sexual purpose though he does accept that his actions violated the sexual integrity of all three girls."

The man was sentenced to one year in jail, but was given credit of the year he had already served in prison.

CBC News has not named the man to protect the privacy of the victims. The court has placed a publication ban on their identities.

The man has also been placed on probation for two years. His name will remain on the national sex offender registry for 10 years.

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