By Ian Holmes

Nanaimo man jailed for sex offences against underage girls

Nov 8, 2018 | 4:47 PM

NANAIMO — A man caught red-handed in a Creep Catcher’s style video sting in Nanaimo has been sentenced to two years in jail and two-and-a-half years probation.

Raymond Dewell, 44, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to a pair of assault charges and a child luring charge related to incidents in Nanaimo. The disturbing case was detailed in an agreed statement of facts between the Crown and defence before judge Justine Saunders in Provincial Court in Nanaimo Thursday afternoon.

Court heard early in 2018 the Nanaimo man thought he was meeting a 13-year-old girl for sexual purposes, but was instead met by a 30-year-old man.

Crown prosecutor Nick Barber told court Dewell admitted in the vigilante video to previous sexual interactions with minors, triggering interest from RCMP.

“It comes to light, yes, in fact Mr. Dewell had been sexually assaulting these two young persons while they were at his home…it is a bit of a breach of trust type situation,” Barber said.

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The assaults against the two girls occurred two to three times roughly four years ago, according to Barber. He said the impacts on the victims were quite severe.

Barber took issue with Dewell’s rationalization for his actions.

“Mr. Dewell seems to think it was initiated by the young people, which obviously is not the case. Mr. Dewell was the adult who had care of these young persons and was in every and all respects in charge of what happened,” Barber said.

A pre-sentence report and accompanying psychiatric report outlined Dewell’s rough upbringing, involving an extremely unstable home, which included Dewell being exposed to pornography as a child.

James Wright, Dewell’s lawyer, said his client has significant intellectual and mental health issues, including depression, PTSD and a personality disorder.

Wright said Dewell is remorseful for what happened and wants to get the mental help he needs. Wright emphasized his client was ruled by a doctor to be a low risk to re-offend.

Dewell had no prior criminal history.

Dewell, who was wearing jeans, a green jacket and work boots, occasionally swivelled in his chair while listening closely throughout the hour-long hearing.

He apologized for his actions in a brief statement to the court.

Judge Saunders cited numerous factors which likely caused Dewell’s actions. However, she took aim at Dewell for shifting blame onto his victims.

“You convinced yourself that they initiated it or they were responsible for this coming about. Well that’s just simply not the case at all, you’re really going to have to make sure you deal with that mindset.”

Two other charges against Dewell were dropped.

Dewell, who himself has a daughter, will appear on the National Sex Offender’s list for the rest of his life.

Above his probationary term, Dewell faces 10 years of restrictions which are imposed on sex offenders under the Criminal Code of Canada.

During that time, Dewell must stay away from community centres, daycares, parks and playgrounds. Dewell must also stay at least two kilometres away from the victims, comply with a DNA order, and he’ll have restricted internet access.

Court was told Dewell will likely serve his jail term at the Ford Mountain Correctional Centre, a facility in Chilliwack for sex offenders or inmates with mental health issues.

NanaimoNewsNOW withheld additional information from the sentencing hearing to further protect the identity of the victims, as portions of the case fell under a publication ban.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes