VANCOUVER – A former B.C. television news reporter who sexually assaulted a child is appealing his four-year prison sentence.
Forty-five-year-old Ron Bencze, who previously worked for Global BC and News 1130, will appear in B.C.’s Court of Appeal Monday to ask for a lighter sentence.
Bencze pleaded guilty in July to one count of sexual assault for abusing a now-14-year-old boy for more than seven years.
After his sentencing, Bencze’s lawyers said the judge in Surrey, B.C., imposed a demonstrably unfit sentence that is outside the acceptable range.
Several remaining charges against Bencze were stayed.
The Crown wanted a three-year sentence while the defence requested a conditional sentence of up to two years.
Judge Robin Baird rejected those requests when the sentence was imposed in late August.
With files from the Canadian Press
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