BishopAccountability.org
	Baptist's Sex Acts Sentence Reserved By Jane Sims London Free Press [Canada] May 16, 2007 http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/05/16/4183978-sun.html A member of a London Baptist church will be sentenced next month on a decades-old sex case involving a child. Superior Court Justice William Jenkins reserved his decision to next month after hearing Crown and defence arguments yesterday. Russell Wilson, a member of the London Ambassador Baptist Church, was one of four men linked with the church who were charged in September 2005 with sex offences. He was convicted in March of sexual interference and sexual assault involving a girl when she was between the ages of six and eight. The girl, who now is an adult, said Wilson, who was staying at her home, sexually assaulted her then gave her chocolate and told her not to tell. Wilson was convicted of two counts of sexual interference involving two other girls around the same time as the complainant was assaulted. Yesterday, Wilson's lawyer, Jeanine LeRoy, argued for a six- to nine-month conditional sentence, with the first part served as house arrest. LeRoy told Jenkins that Wilson's wife removed herself as a surety from his bail after his conviction when he began to increase his alcohol consumption. He spent 10 days in jail and has been living at the Salvation Army shelter. Jenkins agreed yesterday to allow Wilson to return home until his sentencing. LeRoy stressed Wilson has had no scrapes with the justice system for a decade. He never breached a three-year probation period after his last conviction, she said, and if the case before the courts had been reported in 1996, she argued, he might have only had another three months on his 90-day sentence. A conditional sentence would help in Wilson's rehabilitation for alcohol abuse and for understanding what happens to children who are sexually abused, LeRoy said. Assistant Crown attorney Peter Rollings asked Jenkins to consider a jail sentence of 18 months, pointing to Wilson's convictions for similar offences. He said Wilson shown no empathy for his victim. LeRoy said Wilson should not be punished for having a trial, adding a Crown request for a DNA order and an order prohibiting him from public places where children may be found was "disproportionate." Jenkins's decision is expected June 12. Contact: jsims@lfpress.com
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