Sarnia man gets 9 years for sexually interfering with two young girls

A judge was only a few words into an hour-long sentencing decision Friday morning when a female burst into tears, got up and left the courtroom.

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Hearing a fairly graphic recap of what Trevor Duncan was found guilty of doing – sexually interfering with two young girls – proved too difficult to bear.

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About an hour later, a stoic Duncan also got up and left the courtroom, but in handcuffs as he started serving a nine-year prison sentence. While handing down the nearly decade-long punishment, Superior Court Justice Russell Raikes said the 40-year-old Sarnia resident’s conduct was pervasive.

“He preyed on them,” he said.

The judge added Duncan wasn’t intoxicated or exposed to abuse while growing up and repeating a cycle.

“His moral blameworthiness is very high,” he said.

It was a similar phrase to the one Nila Mulpuru, Lambton’s acting Crown attorney, used back in September when she asked for a sentence between 10 and 12 years old.

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“The impact on both complainants is clearly far-reaching and profound,” she said at the time.

Duncan’s lawyer, Joseph Stoesser, had suggested between six and seven years. Raikes said Friday he was initially considering 8.5 years for the one conviction and 2.5 years for the second, but felt 11 years in total was excessive for the first-time offender. Nine years was a fit and just sentence, he concluded.

Duncan was initially facing 17 charges linked to four underage female complainants spanning alleged incidents between 2010 and 2020 in Sarnia and Lambton County. Following a five-day trial in April, the Liuna Local 1089 journeyman was acquitted of 13 of the charges.

But he was found guilty in June by Raikes of two counts each of sexual assault and sexual interference. Little can be reported from the trial or Raikes’s decision as the identities of the two complainants and two survivors are protected by a publication ban. The sexual assault convictions were later stayed under a court principle preventing people from being convicted of multiple charges for the same act.

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As the case continued in September with a sentencing hearing, the parents of one of the survivors took turns telling the judge through emotionally charged victim-impact statements the toll that’s been taken on their daughter. The mother said her daughter lost her innocence along with what should have been positive first-time experiences. Her father, who said his relationship with his daughter was impacted by what happened, added she also lost the ability to be young and carefree.

After the trial, the judge said he found the testimony of one girl, who was somewhere around age five to seven at the time of an incident involving Duncan, to be honest, candid, clear, cogent and compelling.

Conversely, he found Duncan’s evidence about the same incident was not credible or reliable and didn’t raise a reasonable doubt. The judge found him guilty of sexual assault and sexual interference in that incident.

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It was a similar situation with another girl, who was somewhere around age seven to nine. Duncan again denied the incident, but the judge didn’t believe his version while finding the girl to be reliable and credible. Again, Raikes found Duncan guilty of sexual assault and sexual interference.

He was found not guilty of seven charges linked to a third complainant, who was in high school at the time of the alleged offenses. Raikes also found Duncan not guilty of four charges linked to a fourth complainant due in part to their testimony being inconsistent and at odds with Duncan and three other witnesses.

Duncan declined a chance to address the court earlier this year and Stoesser said his client maintains his innocence on all charges.

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@ObserverTerry

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