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Jessica Ossais is facing at least a 12-month jail term after being convicted of sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor
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The sentencing hearing for a former addictions counsellor convicted of abusing a drug-addicted Calgary teen has been adjourned again, this time so her lawyer can mount a Charter challenge.
Defence counsel James Hawkins has filed a notice to the court that he will be asking Justice Heather Lamoureux to rule the mandatory minimum sentence Jessica Ossais is facing amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
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Hawkins wants to seek a conditional sentence order for his client, which would involve her doing a custodial sentence in the community.
But such sentences aren’t permitted where the Criminal Code orders a mandatory minimum punishment for a particular crime.
In this instance, Ossais is facing at least a 12-month jail term after being convicted of sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor. The latter offence carries a minimum punishment where the Crown proceeds by indictment, as prosecutor Tiffany Dwyer did in this case.
Ossais was to face a sentencing hearing last Wednesday, but because of the late arrival of a psychological assessment and a presentencing probationary report the case was adjourned. But Lamoureux would only allow a delay until Monday because of the age of the case.
Hawkins’ Charter application thwarted the Calgary Court of Justice judge’s wish to have the case proceed on an expeditious basis.
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Lamoureux convicted Ossais in January in connection with a brief encounter she had with a 17-year-old drug-addicted Calgary girl in a Lethbridge hotel room.
Lamoureux found the March 22, 2019 encounter the then-teen complainant described, in which she said she sat on Ossais on a bed in the hotel room the offender rented for them to stay in and touched the counsellor’s breasts, amounted to sexual assault by the counsellor.
Ossais had admitted she acted inappropriately professionally after going to the southern Alberta city to meet the teen, who was AWOL from a secure Calgary addictions facility.
The date for Hawkins’ application will be set next week.
KMartin@postmedia.com
X: @KMartinCourts
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