A man convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy who was chained for days in a remote cabin in Nova Scotia, Canada, has been sentenced in Bridgewater Supreme Court to 24 months in prison.
Justice Richard Coughlan accepted the Crown's sentencing recommendation of 24 months plus probation of three years for John Leonard MacKean, 65. 18 months for sexual assault of a minor and 6 months for communicating for such.
MacKean, of Lower Sackville, was found guilty in March of sexual assault and communicating for the purpose of obtaining sexual services from a person under 18.
As Coughlan read the sentence, MacKean sat with his hands folded in front of his face. MacKean's daughter sobbed as her father was led away in handcuffs.
Tuesday morning, the boy's mother told the court her son's attack "has scarred him and it continues to this day to plague and traumatize him."
She cannot be identified due to a publication ban to protect her son's identity.
"Not only did you rape a young boy ... but you raped his body, you raped his soul, you raped his future, and that is something that cannot be fixed and I am left with trying to pick up the pieces of his shattered life,” the boy's mother said to MacKean Tuesday.
MacKean's crimes date back to September 2012, when the boy who was 16 at the time emerged half-naked from the woods. He said he had been chained in a cabin and assaulted by three men.
Crown attorney Lloyd Tancock said he’s pleased with the sentence, but called MacKean's crimes "atrocious."
"Just the age of the youth, the disparity in ages between the young fellow and the accused, the fact that it was under horrendous circumstances, that he knew what was going on, that it had been prearranged — it was all atrocious," he said. 18 months for "atrocious", that's what I call 'atrocious'.
Tancock said the fact that he didn’t have a prior record mitigated the sentence. It didn't mitigate the horror that the boy endured. He said he's encountered these types of cases before, but not in Nova Scotia.
“Not belittling these circumstances, but we hear of these [sorts of cases] in large centres but very, very disturbing facts for rural, small county, small province,” he said.
Tancock said cases like these leave a lasting impact.
"When the facts are as horrendous as this, it doesn’t go away, it’s there for the rest of their life. They learn through appropriate counselling, etcetera, to cope with it, deal with it, but it just doesn’t go away and that’s the devastating impact."
Defence lawyer Mike Taylor agreed with the sentence. I'll bet, he's probably wondering why the judge didn't give MacKean a gold watch while he's at it.
"I think after considering all of the circumstances, it was an appropriate sentence. The Crown took a reasonable approach to it and given the requirements of the Criminal Code, the kind of programming that would be put in place for Mr. MacKean, it just made sense to do it in a federal institution," he said.
MacKean, who has been diagnosed with a heart condition, has special requirements for his health while he's in prison. Does that mean he will never be chained to a bed?
I'm so sick of our kid-glove judicial system when it comes to violent or traumatic crimes. Do you think that sentence will put fear into the heart of anyone else out there thinking about such a thing?
Please pray for the poor tortured soul who has to learn to live with this nightmare. Pray also for his mother and I ask you to pray for MacKean's daughter that she will learn to cope with what her father did and that she won't turn out to be like him.
Justice Richard Coughlan accepted the Crown's sentencing recommendation of 24 months plus probation of three years for John Leonard MacKean, 65. 18 months for sexual assault of a minor and 6 months for communicating for such.
MacKean, of Lower Sackville, was found guilty in March of sexual assault and communicating for the purpose of obtaining sexual services from a person under 18.
As Coughlan read the sentence, MacKean sat with his hands folded in front of his face. MacKean's daughter sobbed as her father was led away in handcuffs.
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| John MacKean - 18 months for raping a teenage boy chained to a bed |
She cannot be identified due to a publication ban to protect her son's identity.
"Not only did you rape a young boy ... but you raped his body, you raped his soul, you raped his future, and that is something that cannot be fixed and I am left with trying to pick up the pieces of his shattered life,” the boy's mother said to MacKean Tuesday.
MacKean's crimes date back to September 2012, when the boy who was 16 at the time emerged half-naked from the woods. He said he had been chained in a cabin and assaulted by three men.
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| Now abandoned, this is what the cabin where the horrific crimes took place two years ago looks like today. |
"Just the age of the youth, the disparity in ages between the young fellow and the accused, the fact that it was under horrendous circumstances, that he knew what was going on, that it had been prearranged — it was all atrocious," he said. 18 months for "atrocious", that's what I call 'atrocious'.
Tancock said the fact that he didn’t have a prior record mitigated the sentence. It didn't mitigate the horror that the boy endured. He said he's encountered these types of cases before, but not in Nova Scotia.
“Not belittling these circumstances, but we hear of these [sorts of cases] in large centres but very, very disturbing facts for rural, small county, small province,” he said.
Tancock said cases like these leave a lasting impact.
"When the facts are as horrendous as this, it doesn’t go away, it’s there for the rest of their life. They learn through appropriate counselling, etcetera, to cope with it, deal with it, but it just doesn’t go away and that’s the devastating impact."
Defence lawyer Mike Taylor agreed with the sentence. I'll bet, he's probably wondering why the judge didn't give MacKean a gold watch while he's at it.
"I think after considering all of the circumstances, it was an appropriate sentence. The Crown took a reasonable approach to it and given the requirements of the Criminal Code, the kind of programming that would be put in place for Mr. MacKean, it just made sense to do it in a federal institution," he said.
MacKean, who has been diagnosed with a heart condition, has special requirements for his health while he's in prison. Does that mean he will never be chained to a bed?
I'm so sick of our kid-glove judicial system when it comes to violent or traumatic crimes. Do you think that sentence will put fear into the heart of anyone else out there thinking about such a thing?
Please pray for the poor tortured soul who has to learn to live with this nightmare. Pray also for his mother and I ask you to pray for MacKean's daughter that she will learn to cope with what her father did and that she won't turn out to be like him.
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