WINNIPEG — The Crown is seeking a 20-year sentence for a man who took part in random sex attacks against a Winnipeg woman and a teenage girl in November 2014.
Crown attorney Jennifer Comack says the man, who cannot be identified because he was 17 at the time, left one victim to die and the other with severe injuries.
Neither victims can be identified due to a publication ban. The teen went on to become an advocate for a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.
The man pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault last year and is being sentenced as an adult. The maximum sentence for aggravated sexual assault under Canada's youth justice system is three years. As an adult, it is life in prison.
The defence has yet to present its sentencing recommendations.
Comack told court the level of violence in the two attacks, which occurred hours apart in November 2014, was gratuitous and excessive.
Co-accused Justin Hudson pleaded guilty in December 2015 to aggravated assault and is awaiting sentencing.
Court has previously heard how the teen was sexually assaulted, beaten and ended up in the Assiniboine River. She managed to crawl out before being attacked again with a hammer. A passerby found her clinging to life hours later.
She went into cardiac arrest twice after being rushed to hospital in critical condition and suffered 34 separate bruises and lacerations.
"I have spent a lot of time in hospitals since you attacked me, repairing injuries to my body,'' the girl wrote in a victim impact statement read at Hudson's sentencing hearing.
"I have scars on most of my limbs, everyday reminders of that night,'' she said.
"I feel sad. Angry. Confused. It's more than those words can possibly convey. The pain is a heavy weight for me to carry.''
Hours after the first attack, court has pervoiusly heard, the pair repeatedly sexually assaulted and severely beat another woman. She spent three days in hospital with a concussion and facial injuries.
"At the time it was happening, I was so scared,'' the woman wrote in her victim impact statement, also read at Hudson's sentencing hearing.
"I did my best to 'act' as they wanted me to out of fear that they would hurt me even more. This made me so disgusted with myself and I hated my body for such a long time after.''
Court was told the teen attacker has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a low IQ and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from sexual abuse inflicted on him as a child.
He told a psychologist he felt pressured into taking part in the attacks believing Hudson would assault him if he refused. An expert said the teen's psychological issues are likely to have made him vulnerable to peer influence.
