By THE CANADIAN PRESS
VERNON, B.C. – The Crown may seek long-term or dangerous offender status for a British Columbia man convicted Friday of the kidnapping and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Peter Rogers found Paul LePage guilty of abduction and administering a drug to commit an indictable offence.
Rogers also found LePage guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm, saying there wasn’t enough evidence for the more serious charge of aggravated sexual assault.
Outside the court, prosecutor Howard Pontious said LePage, who has one previous sex crime also involving a minor, will be assessed before sentencing takes place.
“It’s up to the psychiatrist whether we proceed with a dangerous offender or long-term offender application but the first step is to get the consent to ask for a psychiatric assessment,” Pontious said.
“It’s party because of his record but mostly it’s just because of the sheer magnitude of the crimes. Snatching a child off the streets of Armstrong and raping her is about as aggravated as I can think of.”
Pontious said the range of sentence for kidnapping alone is eight to 14 years.
But if LePage is declared a dangerous offender, he would face an indefinite sentence.
The girl, now 13, sat in the courtroom with her parents at her side to hear the verdict Friday.
She was 11 years old in 2006 when she was grabbed on her way home from a video store in the Okanagan community of Armstrong, B.C.
Her belongings, including a scooter, cellphone and a rented movie, were found nearby.
About 50 police officers and members of the close-knit community searched frantically for the girl. Police dogs and a helicopter were brought in to help search.
After an intense, 36-hour manhunt, police found the girl alive.
LePage, who represented himself at trial, claimed the girl failed to pick him out of a line-up and that there were inconsistencies in the police testimony.
The girl testified from a separate room by a video link so she would not have to face the accused under cross-examination in the courtroom.
Pontious called her “an incredible witness”.
During her ordeal, she obtained a cigarette butt from her attacker that she later provided to police.
Pontious told the court the DNA evidence alone was enough for a conviction.
LePage’s DNA matched a sample taken from the girl but he argued that his backpack, which contained used condoms, was stolen from him and returned prior to his arrest.
The girl’s palm print was also found on the inside of an orange garbage bag that had LePage’s fingerprints on the outside. She testified that her attacker tried to put the garbage bag over her head.
The girl also provided police with a detailed description of her attacker and what he was wearing and told them where he had gone.
LePage was found in that area by police.
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