A sex offender caught near a Burnaby pool contrary to a court order has been sentenced to house arrest and a year of probation.
Sean Arthur Brendan, 53, pleaded guilty in 2008 under a different name for sexual assault, overcoming resistance by drugging or trying to drug a victim, and making, publishing or possessing for the purpose of publishing child pornography, according to facts presented in Vancouver provincial court last week.
He served a jail sentence and was under a 20-year order banning him for places kids and teens might be, including public pools and parks.
He was convicted in November of breaking that order on Aug. 21, 2019.
On that day, police came upon him in a vehicle parked near the Central Park outdoor public pool at 6110 Boundary Rd.
He was first arrested for drug possession because officers found suspected drugs and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle but was eventually charged with breaching the court order, according to court documents.
A police officer testified a backpack containing a large dildo, a bottle of suspected lubricant and a damp Kleenex in a baggie had also been found in the vehicle, the ruling said.
At trial, Brendan failed to convince B.C. provincial court Judge Maria Giardini he had had no alternative but to pull into the Central Park pool parking lot because he had nearly gotten into a car accident and was too shaken up to drive anywhere else safely.
At a sentencing hearing Friday, Crown prosecutor Jacinta Lawton said Brendan should spend between three and four months in real jail.
She noted Brendan’s original offences had been “very serious” and he had spent a considerable time in prison for them but had still breached the order.
She also noted he had not pleaded guilty to the breach, shown remorse or shown willingness to engage in ongoing sex offender treatment.
Brendan’s lawyer Leo Fumano called for a 12-month conditional sentence order and one year of probation.
He agreed Brendan’s original offences were serious but argued he wasn’t being sentenced for those.
Fumano noted Brendan had abided by the court order for almost a decade and had done well on bail during the two-and-a-half years since the Central Park incident.
Giardini eventually imposed a one-year conditional sentence – emphasizing in her decision that a conditional sentence is a jail sentence but served in the community – and one year of probation.
“I am satisfied that, with the assistance of counsel, I can fashion a conditional sentence order that is able to deal with, not only the rehabilitative prospects that Mr. Brendan has, but the deterrent and denunciatory elements that must be addressed,” Giardini said.
Brendan will be under house arrest for the first six months of his sentence.
After that, he will be bound by a 9 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew for three months.
He has also been ordered to complete sex offender treatment as directed by his conditional sentence supervisor.
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