A Surrey man who sexually assaulted his son’s friend for several years has been granted statutory release from prison after serving two-thirds of his four-year jail sentence.
The man, a father of three who can only be identified as R.R.B., was initially charged in 2011 with nine sex-related offences involving three alleged victims. While he originally pleaded not guilty, in 2012, he pleaded guilty to one count of sexually assaulting a child. The other charges were stayed.
The sex offender has been identified many times in past media coverage, but an Appeal Court judge took the unusual step in a May 2014 decision of placing a ban on publishing his name.
It is standard to place a ban on any information that could identify a victim, but the judge said because the victim in this case is a friend of the offender’s son, it was best not to use anyone’s full name.
While R.R.B.’s full sentence expires in August 2016, statutory release is automatically granted to most offenders after they’ve served two-thirds of their sentence, unless it’s recommended by the Correctional Service of Canada that they be detained longer.
During the man’s trial, the court heard he began molesting the male victim when the child was in elementary school. It was January 2011, when the boy was 14, that his mom discovered sexually explicit text message exchanges between the teen and R.R.B. and contacted police.
“There are significant victim concerns in your case and serious psychological harm is deemed to have occurred,” the Parole Board of Canada wrote in its release decision dated April 10. “There are many victim impact statements in your file which speak to the damage you have caused to your victim. Sexual offences against children have significant, long lasting and detrimental effects on children and their families.”
The teenage victim submitted a statement during sentencing saying the abuse has caused him to have difficulty trusting himself and others and he was striving to live a normal life.
“I feel that I have missed out on a childhood that was meant for me, not the tainted one I experienced,” he wrote.
The parole board’s release decision this month says R.R.B.’s risk to re-offend sexually is low and that he has completed programs while in prison, including the Institutional Maintenance Program for Sex Offenders. His release plan involves a continuation of “risk-relevant” programming and close supervision to ensure compliance with special conditions. He was denied parole in January 2014.
Those conditions include not having any direct or indirect contact with the victim or his family; not to be in the the presence of children under age 16 (except his own children) unless with an adult approved by his parole supervisor; not to be near places children under age 16 could be expected to gather, such as schools, parks and swimming pools; and not to seek work that puts him in a position of trust of anyone under age 16, as well as specific locations the victim’s family requested he not be near.
“The victim and the victim’s family is entitled to be free from unwanted contact from you…” reads the parole board decision.
R.R.B. must report to a parole officer, who may temporarily return him to prison if the officer believes the offender’s risk to society has become unmanageable.
