A man who tried to retract part of his guilty plea of sexual offenses against teen girls caused a Brantford judge to fear that he hasn’t grasped the severity of his acts.
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Justice Robert Gee said the man’s attempted plea reversal and lack of remorse shown in a pre-sentence report about his life was worrisome.
“The shifting of blame to a certain extent causes us concerns. . . you still pose a risk if you can’t recognize the wrongness of your behavior,” Gee told Akeem Williams, 25, before sentencing him to six years in prison.
The Brantford man was arrested in February 2022 after a full sexual encounter with a 15-year-old on New Year’s Day.
Then, while out of jail on a release order that included a term he not be around anyone under 18, he assaulted another teen on March 18 of that year.
The girls were 15 and 16 years old but there was also a third victim mentioned in court.
Assistant Crown attorney Samer Nakib said the Crown’s office had made repeated attempts to reach the victims to notify them about the sentencing hearing and offer them an opportunity to share the impact of the assaults but they couldn’t be found.
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“What’s quite alarming is these offenses occurred within two months of each other,” said Nakib.
“One of the victims had only met the accused once before and had no idea how he knew where she lived. She expressed concerns for her safety as he was able to locate her.”
Nakib said the assaults lasted 10 and 15 minutes and Williams used no condom while assaulting the 15-year-old.
The second victim told police she froze and feared for her own safety during the attack.
After several dozen court appearances, Williams pleaded guilty to sexual interference last September and then delayed the case trying to retract that plea for another 15 appearances before finally pleading guilty to both sexual interference and sexual assault.
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Nakib said he felt the man’s retraction of part of his plea looked like it had just been “a tactical decision” to try and get a more lenient sentence rather than a true admission of guilt.
“I’m sorry for what I did,” Williams told the judge.
Giving the man a six-year-sentence, Gee said each assault could have resulted in a six-year sentence if the lawyers hadn’t been able to reach a plea deal.
“You might think the sentence harsh, but frankly, it’s on the lower end, probably agreed to because you’re young, have no record, pleaded guilty and we don’t want to impose a crushing sentence that will ruin you for life. ”
Williams will be on the sexual offenders list for the rest of his life and cannot ever be at a public park, swimming area, daycare, school grounds or anywhere with children unless he’s supervised.
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