The sexual encounter between a Calgary counsellor and a drug-addicted teen in a Lethbridge hotel room may have been brief, but the circumstances surrounding it are so “egregious” a penitentiary term is warranted, a prosecutor said Thursday.
Crown lawyer Tiffany Dwyer said while Jessica Ossais’ encounter with the teenage girl may not have involved major sexual activity her conduct still warrants a three-year prison term.
Dwyer told Justice Heather Lamoureux that Ossais took advantage of her victim’s extreme vulnerability instead of offering her the help she needed.
Ossais was contacted by the 17-year-old, who was AWOL from secure custody in the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs (PChAD) program, from Lethbridge and went south to meet her.
“She drove to Lethbridge, got a hotel room and engaged in sexual activity,” Dwyer said in arguing for a severe sentence.
Lamoureux ruled the March 22, 2019, encounter the victim complained about, in which she sat on Ossais on a bed in the hotel room the offender had rented and touched the counsellor’s breasts over her clothing amounted to a sexual assault.
The Calgary Court of Justice judge asked Dwyer how that contact could justify a penitentiary term.
But the prosecutor said “the degree of physical interference is not necessarily the deciding factor.”
Instead, the judge should look at the fact Ossais was dealing with a victim with a severe drug addiction.
“She made significant decisions, this was not one decision gone wrong,” Dwyer said.
“This child was not in control of her life at that time,” she said.
“The surrounding facts about it are incredibly egregious … This child did not need somebody to drive to Lethbridge and take her to a hotel. What she needed was care and help.”
But defence lawyer James Hawkins argued even the mandatory minimum punishment for sexual exploitation of a minor of 12 months would amount to cruel and unusual punishment considering his client’s conduct and what she has endured as a result of the conviction.
Hawkins wants Lamoureux to rule the minimum sentence unconstitutional and hand Ossais a two year less a day conditional sentence.
He noted his client has lost her career in social work and has endured much publicity over her crime.
Hawkins said those collateral consequences “have been devastating.”
“Publicity can have a denunciatory and deterrent effect,” he said, suggesting media coverage was widespread.
“She is, in effect, on the front page of the newspaper.”
But Dwyer countered that while there was publicity of Ossais’ case, there was nothing to suggest that it was greater than the scrutiny other sex offenders would receive.
A date for Lamoureux’s decision, expected in October, will be set next week.
X: @KMartinCourts