KENTVILLE, NS - A Kings County man has been sentenced to seven months in jail for sex crimes against two young girls who attended the daycare his mother operated at her home.
Jeffrey Roy Casey, 29, of Kingston, pleaded guilty last July to sexual touching and sexual assault. The charges relate to incidents between 2006 and 2010, but he wasn’t arrested until September 2016 after one of the victim’s confided in her boyfriend.
The sexual touching charge involved Casey putting his hand down one girl’s pants. The sexual assault charge involved about 10 incidents of touching another girl, digital penetration, and attempted sex and oral sex. He also made the girl touch his penis.
His trial proceeded on other charges of sexual assault and sexual touching involving a person under age 14 on July 20, 2017. Casey was found not guilty and acquitted of these charges, which involved a third complainant.
Crown attorney Bob Morrison had asked for a sentence of nine months in jail, while defence lawyer Chris Manning had suggested house arrest of 12 to 15 months.
Judge Alan Tufts said while Casey wasn’t in a position of trust when he committed the crimes because he wasn’t an employee of the daycare, “it cannot be ignored that the parents of these children left them in the care of a daycare facility (at) which every parent would expect they would receive loving care.”
The judge said the children were vulnerable.
“These children were completely captive by their circumstances to the offender’s attention, and oftentimes to his control. They could not easily retreat to the safety and security of their parents’ care,” Tufts said. “They were completely vulnerable because of their age and circumstance and, in my opinion, (Casey) exploited that vulnerability
. . . for his own sexual gratification.”
Casey will be on probation for 24 months following his release from prison.
