No help in Nunavut for deviant sex offender: judge

“I am unable to impose a rehabilitative sentence because of the lack of treatment options as discussed,” says Justice Sue Cooper in her sentencing judgment released Feb. 29 by the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.

A 22-year-old Nunavut man with a history of stealing panties from women and girls and then masturbating into them will serve a four-month sentence, followed by 18 months of probation and other conditions.

But this wasn’t the sentence that Nunavut Justice Sue Cooper wanted to give the man, known only as “Mr. Q” in a court judgment released Feb. 29, following a hearing held Oct. 5 to Oct. 7 in Pond Inlet.

The sentence was just the best she could do because there’s no sex offender treatment program suitable for him in Nunavut.

“Essentially, what we have accomplished through the court process is to simply diagnose and label a problem, but nothing further,” Cooper said.

“The situation is similar to having a medical doctor diagnose a broken leg, recommend a cast, and then not have the resources available to put on a cast. The consequences of this are significant for both Mr. Q and for society.”

Although he’s not mentally ill or impaired, Q. suffers from paraphilia and “one or more paraphilia disorders,” the court learned.

Paraphilia involves the experience of intense sexual arousal to fetish objects, situations, or individuals — for this man, in this case, those were panties worn by girls and women.

Q. who holds down a job, pleaded guilty to two counts of break and enter, among other charges, including a breach of probation, dating back to 2013.

The first break and enter was discovered by a homeowner after she woke up and went out to her porch to smoke a cigarette, Cooper said in the judgment.

“At that time she noticed some underwear underneath the stairs leading to the house. The house had been left unlocked when the residents went to bed the previous evening,” Cooper said. “During the night the offender had entered the home, took some underwear belonging to a nine-year-old girl along with some underwear belonging to the girl’s mother and masturbated with it. This was the underwear that was found underneath the stairs of the house.”

In the house they also found some women’s underwear that did not belong to the woman or her daughter, Cooper said.

“Some days later, the offender entered another home during the night through an unlocked door. A resident of the home awoke to find the accused in her bedroom. When she asked the offender what he was doing in the house he asked if he could use the telephone. The use of the phone was offered to him and he appeared to try and use the phone, but left without making a call,” the judgment said.

Following the break and enters, Q. was placed on an undertaking with conditions that required he remain at least 10 metres from these houses.

But, about a month after breaking into the first home and stealing the underwear, Q. was found to be outside the same residence, asking to use the telephone.

“At the time of all of these incidents the offender was on probation flowing from a conviction for sexual assault,” Cooper said.

That involved his younger sister, the court judgment said.

While Cooper only sentenced Q. on the current charges, she wasn’t happy with her sentencing choices.

A sentencing decision should emphasize rehabilitation, because that’s “in the best long term interests of both the offender and the community,” she said.

But there’s no appropriate treatment for Q. in Nunavut.

“When one considers that Mr. Q’s circumstances are not unique, the long term consequences to our society are dispiriting. I am unable to impose a rehabilitative sentence because of the lack of treatment options,” Cooper said.

2016 NUCJ 04 R. v. Q by NunatsiaqNews