B.C. Attorney General questions judge training in light of West Vancouver voyeur sentence

As part of the continuing fallout from a controversial decision in the case of a West Vancouver voyeur, B.C.’s Attorney General is questioning the training the province’s judges receive when dealing with cases involving sexual predators.

The convicted voyeur, whom Global News is not naming due to a court-ordered publication ban on any information that could identify the victim, hid a camera in an electric toothbrush charger and recorded photos and video of an international student nude or partially dressed in a bathroom on nine separate occasions.

“First and foremost, it’s a disturbing case,” Niki Sharma told Global News on Thursday. “There are no good excuses for being a sexual predator.”

In detailing mental health and pre-sentence reports during sentencing on Oct. 26, Crown prosecutor Ariana Ward told the court the offence occurred during a period of the man’s life where there were some sexual intimacy issues between him and his wife and, for some reason, “he felt capturing images and satisfying those urges wouldn’t be hurting anyone as along as she didn’t know.”

The man received a conditional discharge after pleading guilty to one count of voyeurism and will avoid a criminal record if he completes 30 months of probation.

In sentencing the 43-year-old health care worker, North Vancouver provincial court Judge Joseph Galati acknowledged “a marital intimacy deficit contributed to the offending conduct.”

2:18 Outrage over sentence of B.C. man who used hidden toothbrush camera to spy on woman

“I think it’s very important that the judges of our province are properly trained to understand a trauma-informed victim-focused approach to this type of predatory behaviour,” Sharma said when asked about the voyeur’s sentence.

B.C.’s Attorney General said victims of sexual violence and sexual predation often don’t come forward because they fear that they won’t be believed through the process.

“It’s something we all need to take very seriously — including our judiciary,” Sharma told Global News.

Chief Provincial Court Judge Melissa Gillespie was unavailable for an interview on what, if any, trauma-informed victim-centred training exists for members of the B.C.’s judiciary.

In a statement, the Office of the Chief Judge said “all Provincial Court Judges engage in on-going education designed to maintain and keep up to date on new advancements in the law while ensuring they are sensitive to the social and cultural context of the communities in which they work.”

The Attorney General said she will speak with B.C.’s chief judge and justices about the level of training and competency needed when addressing cases of sexual violence and sexual predation.

When asked Tuesday if she or her husband wanted to say anything to the victim, who has since returned to her home country, the wife of the convicted voyeur said “Of course, we’re definitely very apologetic about everything.”