A man already behind bars for a deadly hit-and-run should spend an additional four years for an unrelated sex assault against a 16-year-old girl, a B.C. courtroom heard Wednesday.
That recommended sentence was submitted jointly by Crown prosecutors and lawyers for Alexandre Romero-Arata.
A jury convicted Romero-Arata of sexual assault in December 2023.
Crown prosecutor Joseph Marin told the sentencing hearing the assault, which took place at a Vancouver hotel in 2021, involved choking the victim, pulling her hair and slapping her on the face and breasts.
The assaults had a devastating impact on a vulnerable young person, who Romero-Arata — then 25 — plied with alcohol “despite knowing she was underage and struggling with substance abuse,” Marin told the court.
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He added that there was no evidence Romero-Arata had insight into his actions, adding that he had taken the stand during his trial and denied any wrongdoing.
Marin also read a victim impact statement written by the girl, in which she said the assaults had ruined her self-worth.
“For a long time, I would contemplate ending my life because of it … I didn’t want to live with those memories,” she wrote.
The victim’s mother also read a statement via video link, in which she said the assaults sent her daughter into a downward spiral and broke their family.
“What was done to her was inexcusable, and it shattered every part of our lives,” she said. “Nothing could undo what the defendant did to her.”
Romero-Arata avoided looking at the mother as she spoke, keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead.
“You fractured an entire family,” she added. “The effects have been long, deep and devastating.”
Last December, Romero-Arata was handed a five-year sentence for criminal negligence causing death over a June 2022 hit-and-run that killed 24-year-old Irish man Eoghan Byrne.
The court heard he had been drinking, was driving at speeds of up to 152 km/h and ran multiple red lights. Video recorded by a passenger in his vehicle showed him, at one point, saying, “I ain’t stopping for no red light.”
Both that case and his sexual assault case dragged on for longer than expected, after Romero-Arata changed his legal counsel five times.
Crown and defence agreed the proposed sex assault sentence should be served after Romero-Arata completes the two years he still has on his hit-and-run sentence. With the totality principle applied, he would spend an additional three years behind bars when that sentence is up.
The judge is slated to rule on the submissions on Thursday.
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