Three decades after he was first jailed for exposing himself to children, a former Keremeos resident is back behind bars for more of the same.
Roy O’Donaghey, 60, was sentenced Monday in provincial court in Penticton to nine months in jail for exposing himself to two different boys in Keremeos in 2011.
Once he’s released from custody, O’Donaghey will be subject to a three-year probation order, conditions of which include he not return to the community and have no contact with the victims, their families or other children.
One of the victims testified at trial in 2013 that O’Donaghey deliberately pulled aside the leg of his shorts to let a dog lick O’Donaghey’s genitals in full view of the boy.
The other victim testified that when he spotted a pellet gun while moving boxes in the back of O’Donaghey’s truck, O’Donaghey put his penis on the truck’s tailgate and told the boy to use his penis as a target.
The mother of one of the boys, whose names are protected by a publication ban, said outside the courtroom Monday she’s satisfied with the sentence, which came a year after O’Donaghey was convicted.
“It’s always frustrating. It’s hard not to be angry,” she said of the court delays.
Sentencing was held up for 10 months by the creation of pre-sentencing reports, and then again in October when O’Donaghey failed to show for court.
He later turned himself in to police in Chilliwack, and court heard he and his common-law wife now live in Lillooet.
In calling for a jail sentence, Crown counsel Catherine Crockett noted O’Donaghey was convicted in 1981 of six counts of exposing himself to children, for which he received six months in jail, and was handed probation for the same offence in 1992.
Defence counsel James Pennington argued his client’s advanced age and health problems, plus length of time between offences made him a candidate for a conditional sentence to be served at home.
But Judge Greg Koturbash said he had “some reservations” about handing down a conditional sentence since O’Donaghey is an untreated sex offender who hasn’t taken responsibility for his crimes.
The judge then ruled that a jail sentence is the “only way to express society’s condemnation of Mr. O’Donaghey’s conduct.”
As O’Donaghey was led from the courtroom Monday, his common-law wife sat in the public gallery glaring at Koturbash, who then had her removed too.
“It’s not the time or the place to have you stare me down on this one, ma’am,” the judge said as she was escorted out of the courtroom by a sheriff.
Besides the jail sentence and probation, Koturbash also banned O’Donaghey from visiting parks, schools or other places children are usually present, and from obtaining paid or volunteer work with kids, for a period of 10 years.
And for the rest of his life, O’Donaghey’s name will be included in the national sex offender registry.
