SYDNEY, N.S. — A Sydney man convicted of sexually assaulting a then 15-year-old girl in 2018 has been sentenced to a three-year prison term.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Details in this story may be offensive to some readers.
Kyle Joseph Alexander MacDonald, 20, of Hillside Street was found guilty of the offence last December after a Supreme Court trial before Justice Patrick Murray.
On Friday, Murray imposed a five-year sentence and credited MacDonald with nearly 15 months spent on remand. He also credited MacDonald with an additional two-month reduction for COVID-19 in a bid to further reduce time offenders spend in jail. The total sentence imposed amounted to three years, seven months and eight days.
Prosecutor Glenn Gouthro had recommended a sentence of between seven to eight years while defence lawyer Darlene MacRury suggested a sentence of six months followed by two years probation.
In addition to the jail sentence, MacDonald was ordered to submit a DNA sample to the national registry and is to be a registered sex offender for 20 years. He is not to have any contact with the victim for five years. He is banned from possessing weapons for 10 years and is banned for life from possessing weapons deemed restricted or prohibited.
The maximum penalty for sexual assault is 14 years.
Members of MacDonald’s family had previously indicated it is their intention to file an appeal of both the conviction and sentence.
“He committed a horrendous crime. He was an adult who knew what he was doing. She was 15 and terrified,” said Murray, in passing sentence.
Sentencing arguments in the case began last week and after an adjournment, started again on Thursday with Murray reserving his verdict decision until Friday.
In his own address to the court, MacDonald continued to deny he sexually assaulted the girl and that it was a consensual encounter.
MacDonald said he now wants to focus on improving his education and ridding his life of the influences of drugs and alcohol.
“He (MacDonald) was willfully blind in forcing himself on her. She did not consent to sexual activity,” said Murray, in finding MacDonald guilty after a trial.
According to the trial evidence, the victim testified she was staying with a female friend on March 31, 2018, when they went to a home where MacDonald and another young male were staying. Neither the victim nor MacDonald had met prior.
The girls entered the home through a basement door and once inside, MacDonald asked the victim to join him upstairs while the other two remained in the basement.
The victim testified that she and MacDonald went into the living room and sat on the sofa and MacDonald began kissing her neck and touching her breasts, over her clothes.
She testified MacDonald told her the plan was for him to have sex with her and his friend would have sex with her friend in the basement.
She testified she told MacDonald she wanted to leave and that he went downstairs to check on the other two whom, he reported, were engaging in sex.
The victim said that as she attempted to leave, MacDonald grabbed her by the arms and flung her onto a nearby mattress on the floor.
She testified to struggling with MacDonald to keep her pants on but he managed to remove one leg of both her pants and panties.
According to her testimony, MacDonald forced unprotected intercourse on her and then masturbated on her.
She said she pleaded with him to stop and that she would not tell anyone.
In his testimony, MacDonald said he did put his arm around her when they were on the sofa and that the girl began kissing him.
He said they got off the sofa and went to the mattress where the girl removed her pants along with her shirt and bra.
MacDonald told the court the girl performed oral sex on him and they had intercourse. He said she made him promise not to tell her friend.
