Child abductor Randall Hopley declared long-term offender
CRANBROOK, B.C. - Convicted child abductor Randall Hopley has been declared a long-term offender and sentenced to seven years in prison followed by 10 years of supervision after his release.
With time already spent in custody taken into account, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes said Hopley will still have to serve five years behind bars.
The Crown had argued that Hopley should be declared a dangerous offender, which would have kept him in jail indefinitely.
But Holmes told a Cranbrook courtroom that Hopley didn't meet the criteria for dangerous offender status. The judge said Hopley's sex assaults on children as a teen are too far removed to form a repetitive pattern of behaviour.
Hopley had no comment for the court.
Hopley abducted three-year-old Kienan Hebert from the second-floor bedroom of his family's unlocked home in Sparwood, B.C., more than two years ago. He returned Kienan several days later after a public plea from the boy's parents.
A forensic psychiatrist told a sentencing hearing in Cranbrook, B.C., last month that Hopley is a "high risk" to reoffend if he's released from prison.
Dr. Emlene Murphy tested him a year ago after the Crown announced it would proceed with a dangerous offender application. She reviewed several reports on Hopley, 48, starting from when he was 15 and sexually assaulted young children while he was living in a foster home.
"The previous reports were more helpful than interviewing Mr. Hopley,'' she told the hearing. "When it comes to future risks of reoffending, the best criteria is past history.''
Hopley pleaded guilty to breaking into the Sparwood house and abducting Keinan. He has always said he never harmed or sexually assaulted the boy. The Crown has presented no evidence that he did.
Court heard that Hopley, a B.C. resident, entered foster care when he was 10 and remained there until he was 19. During that time, there were numerous convictions for sexually assaulting pre-pubescent children. That led to a diagnosis of pedophilia.
Tests determined he has an IQ between 59 and 73. The IQ rate for someone considered of normal intelligence is around 100.
There were also some signs of anti-social behaviour.
One of the tests places individuals into categories measuring the reoffending rate of former sex offenders. Hopley was rated as a sex offender at a high risk to assault again.
"He matches a group who have a reoffending rate in five years of 20 per cent,'' Murphy told the hearing. "In 10 years, the number is 27 per cent. He's up there as a high risk of reoffending.''
She said Hopley was unwilling to discuss details about his sexual behaviour and would only be interested in attending counselling sessions if his time behind bars were reduced.
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High risk to reoffend.....but he can't be declared a dangerous offender. Five more years of incarceration, followed by 10 years of supervision....but what does that mean exactly?
Here we have someone with a track record against children, the abduction of Kienan had the entire nation on edge I remember that clearly, by every manner of testing it's been determined that he is at very high risk to reoffend....but they will release him under some vague supervision? Is this fair to the community who's children will now be at risk? Is it even fair to him, given the stated IQ level I'm not even sure if he's capable of understanding what he's done wrong let alone learning from it.
Why is it that the offenders who pose the greatest danger to the most vulnerable members of society are the ones that see very little incarceration time? Does he need to kill the next child before we prevent him from doing it again?
I really don't understand how we have this great big gaping hole in the justice system and no one addresses it.
CRANBROOK, B.C. - Convicted child abductor Randall Hopley has been declared a long-term offender and sentenced to seven years in prison followed by 10 years of supervision after his release.
With time already spent in custody taken into account, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Heather Holmes said Hopley will still have to serve five years behind bars.
The Crown had argued that Hopley should be declared a dangerous offender, which would have kept him in jail indefinitely.
But Holmes told a Cranbrook courtroom that Hopley didn't meet the criteria for dangerous offender status. The judge said Hopley's sex assaults on children as a teen are too far removed to form a repetitive pattern of behaviour.
Hopley had no comment for the court.
Hopley abducted three-year-old Kienan Hebert from the second-floor bedroom of his family's unlocked home in Sparwood, B.C., more than two years ago. He returned Kienan several days later after a public plea from the boy's parents.
A forensic psychiatrist told a sentencing hearing in Cranbrook, B.C., last month that Hopley is a "high risk" to reoffend if he's released from prison.
Dr. Emlene Murphy tested him a year ago after the Crown announced it would proceed with a dangerous offender application. She reviewed several reports on Hopley, 48, starting from when he was 15 and sexually assaulted young children while he was living in a foster home.
"The previous reports were more helpful than interviewing Mr. Hopley,'' she told the hearing. "When it comes to future risks of reoffending, the best criteria is past history.''
Hopley pleaded guilty to breaking into the Sparwood house and abducting Keinan. He has always said he never harmed or sexually assaulted the boy. The Crown has presented no evidence that he did.
Court heard that Hopley, a B.C. resident, entered foster care when he was 10 and remained there until he was 19. During that time, there were numerous convictions for sexually assaulting pre-pubescent children. That led to a diagnosis of pedophilia.
Tests determined he has an IQ between 59 and 73. The IQ rate for someone considered of normal intelligence is around 100.
There were also some signs of anti-social behaviour.
One of the tests places individuals into categories measuring the reoffending rate of former sex offenders. Hopley was rated as a sex offender at a high risk to assault again.
"He matches a group who have a reoffending rate in five years of 20 per cent,'' Murphy told the hearing. "In 10 years, the number is 27 per cent. He's up there as a high risk of reoffending.''
She said Hopley was unwilling to discuss details about his sexual behaviour and would only be interested in attending counselling sessions if his time behind bars were reduced.
Yahoo News Canada - Latest News & Headlines
High risk to reoffend.....but he can't be declared a dangerous offender. Five more years of incarceration, followed by 10 years of supervision....but what does that mean exactly?
Here we have someone with a track record against children, the abduction of Kienan had the entire nation on edge I remember that clearly, by every manner of testing it's been determined that he is at very high risk to reoffend....but they will release him under some vague supervision? Is this fair to the community who's children will now be at risk? Is it even fair to him, given the stated IQ level I'm not even sure if he's capable of understanding what he's done wrong let alone learning from it.
Why is it that the offenders who pose the greatest danger to the most vulnerable members of society are the ones that see very little incarceration time? Does he need to kill the next child before we prevent him from doing it again?
I really don't understand how we have this great big gaping hole in the justice system and no one addresses it.