The former Cloverdale youth pastor who was convicted of sexual assault last year was sentenced this week to two years in jail.
Samuel Emerson received his sentence, which includes a 10-year firearm prohibition, Tuesday at Surrey Provincial Court.
Emerson, who grew up in the South Surrey and White Rock area, was found guilty last November on one charge of sexual assault, but not guilty on a majority of other charges that were laid two years prior, after young members of his congregation approached police.
His wife Madelaine, who was also charged in 2017, was found not guilty.
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In finding Samuel Emerson guilty of one count of sexual assault in November, Judge Mark Jetté concluded that the complainant’s apparent consent to have sex with him was induced.
RCMP announced charges against the couple in October 2017. The following March, both accused entered pleas of not guilty. A trial, set for 12 days, got underway this past April in Surrey Provincial Court. It concluded Sept. 4.
Samuel Emerson was tried on five counts of sexual assault, two counts of touching a young person for a sexual purpose and one count of sexual interference of a person under 16.
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The assaults were alleged to have happened between 2013 and 2017, at the Emerson family home and at the Cowichan River Bible Camp.
In finding the Emersons not guilty of the other charges, Jetté said reasonable doubt was raised by inconsistencies in some of the six complainants’ evidence; in finding Samuel Emerson guilty of the one count, the judge cited the former pastor’s “calculated effort” to distance himself from the complainant while testifying, including the accused’s insistence that he was never alone with her.
Any information that could reveal the identity of alleged victims or witnesses is protected by a publication ban.
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