No jail time for Edmondson, Sask Appeal Court decides

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The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction and conditional sentence of two- years-less-a-day served in the community handed to Dean Edmondson for his part in the sexual assault of a 12-year-old Cree girl.

Charged in 2001, Edmondson, Jeffrey Brown and Jeffery Kindrat were accused of picking up the girl near Tisdale one evening after she had run away from home, providing her with alcohol and then sexually assaulting her. Kindrat and Brown were tried separately and were acquitted, but in January of this year, the Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal and ordered a new trial for the two. A date for the trial has yet to be set.

Edmondson's case came before the Court of Appeal after Edmondson appealed his conviction and the Crown appealed his sentence. In a decision released April 20, the court dismissed both appeals. Edmondson's conviction was upheld, although the court changed the charge from being a party to a sexual assault to a charge of sexual assault.

The court also chose not to change the length of the sentence Edmondson received at his trial, although the Appeal Court judgement stated that the trial judge should have sent Edmondson to jail.

"Even if we were to set aside the conditional sentencing order, only about four months of his sentence would remain. And not all of that would have to be served in prison. Indeed, he would soon qualify for release it seems, so what would that accomplish? Little if anything, stated the Court of Appeal judgement.

"[W]e can see no realistic option but to leave the conditional sentencing order in place. But we do want to make it clear that the trial judge, having selected a term of imprisonment of two -years-less-a-day, should not have ... allowed Mr. Edmondson to serve the sentence in the community. He should have sent him to jail for that period."

Beverley Jacobs, president of the Native Woman's Association of Canada (NWAC), said that this sends the wrong message to future offenders.

"Well, the reality is, is that he served time with his parents. That really isn't much of a deterrent for people," said Jacobs. "If someone else had done something to a 12- year-old girl, it leaves it open for anybody to do it with no repercussions. The fact is that he never spent any time in jail and those are some of the sentencing principles for the offence that he committed."

Although the Crown based their successful appeal to overturn Brown and Kindrat's acquittal on the grounds of Judge Kovach's faulty direction to the jury, the Court of Appeal denied Edmondson's appeal under similar arguments. The Court of Appeal made a quick decision to retry Brown and Kindrat as their defense acknowledged the error and did not oppose the Crown's arguments.

The Court of Appeal judges did have firm words in regard to future sexual assault cases.

"The gravity of the offence and the degree of Mr. Edmondson's culpability called for his incarceration. So did the need to denounce conduct of this kind and to deter others from engaging in similar conduct if so disposed. Anyone who in like circumstances takes sexual advantage of a 12-year-old girl, as desperate and vulnerable as this girl was, can expect to be sent to prison for a significant period of time. Otherwise, public confidence in the administration of justice is bound to be eroded."

These words are of little comfort to Jacobs, who stressed this is by no means an isolated case.

"The whole reality of it all is that a 12-year -old Aboriginal girl is fair game ... This isn't one case. We are talking about other cases that have happened too in similar situations where Aboriginal girls and women are being targeted."