ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Close to a year after it was originally postponed to await the result of a federal appeal in a similar case, Randolph Douglas Dawe's sentencing hearing on a child-luring charge will go ahead next month.
Judge David Orr said Wednesday the hearing must go ahead when the matter is called again in provincial court May 6.
Dawe, 54, was convicted last May, but his sentencing was postponed by request of defence lawyer Candace Summers. Summers asked the court to wait for the release of a decision before the Supreme Court of Canada that challenged the mandatory minimum sentence for child luring, saying the outcome would have an impact on her client's situation. Orr and Crown prosecutor Jennifer Lundrigan agreed.
The current mandatory minimum sentence for child luring if the Crown proceeds by way of indictment is one year in prison.
The Supreme Court of Canada recently ruled on an appeal by Douglas Morrison, an Ontario man charged with child luring after he posted an online classified ad and had sexually explicit conversations with a police officer posing as a 14-year-old girl. While the court had ruled in Morrison's favour on part of his appeal, it sent the issue of the mandatory minimum penalty back to the trial judge.
The current mandatory minimum sentence for child luring if the Crown proceeds by way of indictment is one year in prison.
Summers told the court Wednesday she had originally misread the appeal decision when it was released last month, and had recently reviewed it again.
"I was somewhat taken aback by that decision. I was expecting to have some finality to this issue, but unfortunately that's not the case," she told the judge, asking for more time to review the case with Dawe.
Dawe was arrested in October 2016 and admitted sending sexual messages to a 13-year-old boy, but said he had been joking. The messages included questions about masturbation and comments about the boy’s “sexy/sweet ass,” according to an agreed statement of facts.
He also offered the child $50 to see him naked, and told him that he got an erection “every time I sees ya.”
At one point, Dawe told the boy that he had considered hiring a “hooker” for him for his birthday, but then said it would have made him angry.
Dawe was caught after the boy’s father saw the messages and reported them to police.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
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