CANADA
StarPhoenix
BY HANNAH SPRAY, THE STARPHOENIX MAY 21, 2015
A retired priest was released from custody after he appealed his sentence for a sexual assault he committed in 1978.
Omer Desjardins, 82, was sentenced in January to six months in jail, plus one year of probation, for sexually touching a 10-year-old girl in 1978 in a small community north of Saskatoon.
On April 16, having served just under four months of his sentence, Desjardins was released after a panel of three Saskatchewan Court of Appeal judges reduced his sentence to time served.
“The court of appeal essentially said they’re going to allow the appeal and sentence him to time served, as there were mitigating factors the judge didn’t take into account or give adequate weight to,” said Desjardin’s lawyer, George Green.
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