The Crown is seeking lengthy prison sentences for three Caledonia men convicted of trafficking a young Brantford woman.
During a sentencing hearing Friday in a Cayuga court, Crown lawyer Heather Palin, from Ontario’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Team, asked for sentences of 10 years for Dagisa Lucic, 30, and five years for Joshua Hillock. 32.
Daniel Campbell, 37, will be sentenced separately with the Crown asking he be sent to prison for 12 years.
They were found guilty in October by Justice Robert Nightingale.
Two Caledonia women also faced charges in the case. Crystal-Anne Marier, 37, was found not guilty, while the other woman is being tried separately. A date has yet to be set for her trial.
In delivering his verdict, the judge said Campbell, Lucic and Hillock recruited, controlled and profited off a “vulnerable” young person in late 2019 and early 2020, coercing her into “providing sexual services in exchange for money,” none of which she received .
Palin said Lucic and Hillock took photos of the woman for sex ads, drove her to hotels, collected money, arranged clients for her and provided her with food and drugs.
“The victim was a vulnerable person,” said Palin. “They knew their age, addiction and lack of family support. She was just 18 when all of this took place.”
Lucic was found guilty of trafficking in a person, benefiting from trafficking and from sexual services, procuring or pimping and advertising sexual services.
Lucic’s lawyer, Brennan Smart, suggests a more appropriate sentence for his client is six years.
Noting that his client already has served the equivalent of about a year in jail, Smart requested that his house arrest also be counted for six months of time served, which would further reduce his prison sentence.
Smart said Lucic is a Yugoslavian refugee who came to Canada as a child. He had difficulty adjusting to life here after experiencing the horrors of war in his home country, said the lawyer, comparing the impact on Lucic to that of an Indigenous child in a residential school.
Palin noted that Hillock was a minor member of the group and often was sympathetic toward the victim.
Hillock was convicted of trafficking in a person, benefiting materially from trafficking and from sexual services, and procuring or pimping.
He’s already served the equivalent of 302 days.
Lucic and Hillock will return to Cayuga court on Dec. 7 for sentencing.
No date has been set for Campbell’s sentencing.