SURREY — A Surrey man who attacked two prostitutes on separate occassions in Sullivan Heights Park has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
But with credit for time served, James Henry Reddemann will spend three years and nine months more in custody. He will also be registered under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act for life and pay a victim surcharge fine of $800.
Justice Heather Holmes sentenced Reddemann in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster after he pleaded guilty to attacking two women in the late summer/early fall of 2014 after taking them, late at night, to a secluded place in Sullivan Heights Park.
Reddemann pleaded guilty to sexual assault with a weapon, namely a knife, and threatening to kill her or cause bodily harm, in relation to one woman. Concerning the second victim, he also pleaded guilty to sexual assault causing bodily harm, and choking her with intent to commit sexual assault. There is a publication ban on information that could identify either victim.
Holmes, in her reasons for judgment, noted the first victim had arranged to meet Reddeman at a bank and then spend the evening with him at a hotel, for a fee. He replied he’d prefer to take her home, she agreed and they started walking there. While they were crossing the field at Sullivan Heights Park, he grabbed her in a chokehold, from behind, and held a knife to her throat.
“He told her to take off all her clothes, and, in a calm voice, told her that he was going to have sex with her whether she liked it or not,” Holmes noted. He then sexually assaulted the woman, after which her let her go with a warning that if she told anyone, “Next time won’t be so pleasant.”
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When he approached his next victim, the court heard, Reddemann was holding a crack pipe. She told him she didn’t typically do drugs with dates, but did use heroin.
They walked toward his basement suite, reached a path, and he left the path, walked around some trees and told her he was confused about which trail they should follow. She was reluctant to follow him deeper into the park, Holmes noted, “and told him that ‘bad dates’ had been taking place lately in areas like the one they were in, with girls being raped at knifepoint.
“At that point,” the judge continued, Reddemann turned around, said, “I know,” and punched the woman in the face. After she fell to the ground, he grabbed her neck and choked her, telling her not to struggle “as this would just make it worse.
“He told her that if she kept struggling he would kill her, would stab her, and that she would never see her family again. He told her to just go with it, and things would be easier and over more quickly.”
She begged to be set free for her children’s sake, but he told her to stop screaming or he’s stab her to death. He then put her in a sleeper hold from behind. As he tried to undo his belt she kicked him and ran.
Crying, she tried to flag motorists for help but nobody stopped. A nearby resident heard her screams and called police.
“It is no surprise that each suffered extreme and long-lasting trauma,” the judge said of both victims. “Attacks like these also cause serious harm to the community. They create a horror that hangs over the community and prevents women and girls, and sometimes men and boys, from going about their normal lives in the way they should be able to.”
Reddemann, 38, was 35 when the crimes were committed and had been working installing gutters when he fell off a roof in 2010. He receives a WorkSafe BC pension as a result, which will continue until he’s 65.
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