Despite claims he has been the victim of a lifetime of false sexual allegations, Calgary dangerous offender Lee Todd Laviolette was handed an indeterminate prison sentence Tuesday after a judge ruled he poses too great a risk to society.
Justice Allan Fradsham agreed with Crown prosecutor Karuna Ramakrishnan that a sentence which could see Laviolette locked up for life was necessary to prevent him committing future violent crimes.
“I am satisfied that there is no reasonable expectation that a lesser sentence than detention in a penitentiary for an indeterminate period of time will adequately protect the public against the commission by Mr. Laviolette of a serious personal injury offence,” Fradsham said.
“Your honour, so what you’re saying is I’m doing life?” Laviolette asked after the judge handed down his ruling.
“No, what I’m saying is you’re sentenced to an indeterminate period of time,” Fradsham replied, telling Laviolette he could appeal the decision.
“I want an appeal,” Laviolette said.
While his sentence will be periodically reviewed to determine if he no longer poses a serious risk to society, it’s possible Laviolette, 56, could spend the rest of his days behind bars.
Fradsham noted the Calgary man, who was homeless when he committed his latest sexual offence seven years ago, denied his history of sexually abusing women and girls.
His latest crime, for which he was convicted in March 2021 of sexual assault of a 14-year-old runaway at his makeshift encampment south of the Stampede grounds, was just one of many Laviolette claimed to be victim, not perpetrator.
“He told the court that ‘this 14-year-old girl, this skinner … raped me twice at my camp,'” the Calgary Court of Justice judge noted.
“He stated that the victim straddled him and that he could not push the child off of him because she was ‘too heavy and too strong.’
“Mr. Laviolette stated that the victim ‘manhandled’ him, repeatedly describing her actions as ‘sick, nasty, gross and disgusting.'”
At his trial, for which he was convicted by a separate judge, Laviolette testified that he initially did not want to have sex with the teen and then changed his mind.
Laviolette, who acted for himself after a falling out with defence lawyer Kim Ross, who stayed on the case as amicus to the court, indicated his history of violence against women was a false one.
“Throughout his submission, Mr. Laviolette maintained that he has ‘been wrongly accused many times of sexual assault,'” Fradsham said.
“Mr. Laviolette stated that he ‘can’t stand injustice’ and his ‘dead against violence.'”
His criminal history, which spans 35 years up to his most recent finding of guilt, includes a 1992 conviction for forcible confinement, a 1994 charge of committing an indecent act, a 1999 sexual assault and an additional sexual assault in 2003.
KMartin@postdmedia.com
X: @KMartinCourts
