A convicted sex offender has been found guilty of violating a court order after failing to convince a B.C. provincial court judge he had been forced to park near a Burnaby pool with children at it because he had almost gotten into a car accident nearby.
Sean Arthur Brendan, 53, had been convicted 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 a provincial court ruling this month.
He had served a jail sentence and was under a 20-year ban on attending public parks, public swimming areas, day-care centres, school grounds, playgrounds and community centres where kids or teens might be when police came up to him in a car parked near the Central Park outdoor public pool at 6110 Boundary Rd.
Brendan was first arrested for drug possession and then charged with breaching the court order, according to the ruling.
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.
The officer said he could see about 15 to 20 teenagers between the ages of about 12 and 16 playing and talking in and around the pool area from where the car was parked.
When the officers came upon Brendan, he was in the front passenger seat looking under the dashboard with a flashlight, according to the ruling.
He told police he was fixing his car, the ruling said.
He later testified he had been having problems with his vehicle’s navigation system and had nearly gotten into an accident at Boundary Road and Imperial Street.
He said he had been aware he was pulling into a park but had done it “for his own safety and the safety of others” because he had been so shaken up by the near miss, according to the ruling.
“He believed acting in an emergency situation, it would be understandable that he was attempting to do his best,” stated the ruling.
Under cross examination, however, Brendan acknowledged he hadn’t been going fast when the near miss happened; there had been at least one left turn he could have made away from the park; and his vehicle had still been operational afterwards.
Crown prosecutor Jacinta Lawton also pointed out Brendan had parked in one of the spots closest to the pool when other parking spots farther away were available.
Brendan said that “did not even enter his mind,” according to the ruling.
In the end, provincial court Judge Maria Giardini ruled there was “no air of reality” to Brendan’s “defence of necessity” and the Crown had proven beyond a reasonable doubt he had had the necessary mens rea or guilty mind to make him guilty of breaching the court order.
“At best, Mr. Brendan had a mistaken belief about the consequences of his deliberate entry into the park; however, his mistaken belief was a mistake of law … a mistake of law cannot operate as a defence and negate the legal consequences of Mr. Brendan’s deliberate act, namely, driving into and staying in the park,” Giardini said in the ruling.
Brendan’s next court date is Nov. 24 to set a date for sentencing.
