A Nanaimo man convicted of sexual touching of a child has been denied the right to appeal his sentence, but can appeal certain conditions of his sentence.
The Court of Appeal for British Columbia ruled Tuesday that Sean James Athey, who is serving an eight-year sentence after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography, making or publishing child pornography and sexual touching of a person under 16, can appeal to have contact with his own children and use internet for work purposes.
Athey was sentenced June 17, 2016 to four and a half years plus time served for incidents that took place between Jan. 1, 2011 and March 26, 2014.
In his appeal, Athey, who is a member of the Heiltsuk First Nation, asserted that his aboriginal background hadn’t been considered by the judge when assessing moral culpability.
Appeal Court Justice Mary Newbury, in her judgment, wrote that the judge did consider those “factors and strove to give effect to them to the extent possible, but he found that the conduct of this offender, his moral blameworthiness … warranted a five-year sentence on the sexual abuse and three years on the production of child pornography.”
The Appeal Court ruled that Athey cannot appeal the sentence, but decided that he can appeal to have contact with his children, have internet access at a place of work during business hours, and reduce other conditions of his sentence from 20 years to 10.
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