A 39-year-old Inuvik man who sexually assaulted a sleeping victim during a house party more than four years ago was sentenced in NWT Supreme Court last week.
Garrett Dick was handed a two year, five month sentence by Judge Shannon Smallwood Friday after the court heard sentencing submissions from Crown prosecutor Trevor Johnson and defence lawyer Tracy Bock on Tuesday.
With five months credit for time already served, Dick will spend two years behind bars. He has been in custody for 105 days.
Through an agreed statement of facts read Tuesday, the court heard on Nov. 16, 2013, Dick and a woman were at a house party in Inuvik.
The two didn't know each other at the time. After consuming alcohol, the victim, alone and fully clothed, went to sleep on a mattress. While asleep, the court heard Dick pulled down her pants and underwear and had full sexual intercourse with her.
The next day, the victim left the house after waking up to find her pants around her ankles. On Nov. 18, the victim reported the sexual assault, and RCMP opened an investigation, finding semen on her underwear. Dick, an early suspect of the crime, had a blood sample taken.
Garrett Dick, 39, enters the Yellowknife courthouse on Friday, Feb. 9. Dick was handed 2 years and 5 months - more than four years after he sexually assaulted a sleeping woman at a house party. Dick was an early suspect in 2016, but wasn't charged until 2016 after an RCMP error misidentified a DNA match.
Feb.9, 2018.
In court, Judge Smallwood interjected Crown prosecutor Johnson's reading of the statement of facts, asking him why Dick is facing sentencing in 2018, four years after the assault took place.
Johnson said the delay was not the fault of Dick nor the victim, but rather resulted from “... frankly, an error on the part of the RCMP,” he said.
According to Johnson, DNA results from the semen found on the victim were “misinterpreted” by a police officer who didn't think it was a match, and therefore not enough strength to charge Dick.
Later, a new RCMP supervisor discovered the mistake and charges were laid against Dick in October 2016.
Dick plead guilty to the charge.
The victim, who requested to watch both hearings last week via video, remained stone-faced as the facts were read.
Citing the seriousness of the major sexual assault, Johnson said Dick “took advantage of someone in a vulnerable situation,” a type of crime he called far too common in this jurisdiction.
Johnson also highlighted Dick's criminal past – 17 entries with three violent crimes – along with the fact that the victim has been waiting four and a half years to resolve the matter in his submission for a sentence of two years and five months with two years probation.
Bock, detailing his client's substance abuse problems he said were worsened by the death of his daughter some years ago, asked for a sentence 2 years less a day with 2 years probation. Bock told the court Dick doesn't have a good memory of the events and that he has expressed remorse.
Standing to address the victim, Dick broke down in tears.
“I want to apologize for what I've put you through I want to apologize to my kids – I should be there with them,” he said.
Before sentencing Dick, Judge Smallwood took a moment to speak to the victim.
“To the victim I say sorry you've had to wait so long,” Smallwood said.
Smallwood acknowledged Dick's guilty in sparing the victim from testifying in court but stated the sentence should send a message that sexual assaults against sleeping women won't be tolerated, and that “a woman should expect to go to sleep fully clothed and wake up” the same way.
Along with the two year, five month sentence, Judge Smallwood handed down conditions as well. Dick is to submit DNA , he is prohibited from possessing firearms for 10 years and he must register as a sex offender for 20 years