Thursday, July 7, 2016

Prosecutors appeal Gordon Stuckless sentence in sex-abuse case


Prosecutors are seeking a “substantially longer” sentence for the man at the heart of the Maple Leaf Gardens sex abuse scandal, saying the penalty he received does not reflect the severity of his crimes.

The Crown has filed a notice of appeal in the case of Gordon Stuckless, who was sentenced last month to 6.5 years in prison for sexually abusing 18 boys decades ago.

Stuckless, 67, was given credit of six months for time served under house arrest, which means he will spend six years behind bars.

The ruling angered many of his victims, who said they have suffered much longer as a result of his actions.

In the notice filed with the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Ministry of the Attorney General argues Justice Mara Greene “erred by misidentifying the appropriate range of sentence in cases involving the prolonged sexual abuse of multiple victims.”

The sentence, the document alleges, is “disproportionate to the gravity of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the offender,” and “clearly unreasonable and demonstrably unfit in the circumstances of this case.”

The notice also says Greene “over-emphasized the mitigating factors in the case and gave insufficient weight to the many aggravating factors.”  (more...)


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