Newfoundland judge refuses peace bond for man acquitted as ‘sleepwatcher’

“He has served his time,” she said in an interview. “He has paid the debt that he had to his victims and to society, and he’s free to do what everyone who does that has the right to do, which is live their lives and be left alone.”

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary went to provincial court in February 2017 asking for a peace bond against Sinclair to avoid what police argued is the potential for an imminent personal injury offence.

Judge Mike Madden said Tuesday that Sinclair has a lengthy criminal record but has not had a sexual assault conviction since the 1980s. Sinclair was convicted in 1984 for indecent exposure and in 1987 for sexual assault, court heard.

He was also caught in 2007 peeking at a child in a Halifax bathroom and, while incarcerated, at female corrections staff in washrooms. Other convictions in the 2000s include theft and criminal harassment.

Still, Madden said he must assess if the Crown objectively established that Sinclair poses an imminent risk of committing a personal injury offence.

Madden said the last break-in for which Sinclair was convicted was not voyeuristic on the facts.

The judge cited the latest correctional service reports, describing them as “cautiously positive.”

Sinclair completed federal sex offender and community programming, Madden said.

“In other words, they were satisfied that the respondent could end his participation in sex offender programs provided nothing new arose.”

“The issue is not whether the respondent is sexually well adjusted,” Madden stressed.

The legal matter, the judge said, was whether the Crown established that Sinclair is an imminent personal injury threat.

Madden ruled it did not.

O’Gorman said lingering concerns the public may have about Sinclair “are not brushed off or ignored one bit.”

“But what I think the judge said today is that Mr. Sinclair has satisfied the court that he is capable of managing any risk that he presents, and that’s what he intends to do.”

O’Gorman said her client knows that past drug and alcohol use has gotten him into trouble.

“He recognizes that, and he doesn’t want to have any more victims.”

Follow @suebailey on Twitter.

Sue Bailey, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Newfoundland judge refuses peace bond for man acquitted as ‘sleepwatcher’

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