A judge sentenced a former teacher at an elementary school in Raymond, Alta. to 12 years in jail for sexual assault and child pornography on Thursday.
Jamey Kristian, 39, had earlier pleaded guilty to sexual assault, sexual interference and child pornography offences involving young boys. Court heard how Kristian photographed some of his victims in changing rooms at Lethbridge swimming pools.
READ MORE: More charges laid against Lethbridge man accused of sexual assault
“It would not matter how much time he got,” a 20-year-old former victim whom Global News is not identifying, said after the sentence was handed out. “It won’t help me out any better (than) even if he got three to four years.
” It has mentally destroyed me,” he said. “It’s the basic truth. As much as I would have liked to avoid it all, it was something that could not have been avoided.”
Kristian was first charged in January 2014 after one of his victims told his mother what had happened and they went to police. That led to more charges involving two other boys.
“There are points in time I wish I would have brought it up sooner, but I’m glad I didn’t because it brought up a few more victims,” the victim said.
The defence recommended a sentence of eight to 10 years while the crown asked for 15 years in prison.
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“Jamey just wants to put this behind himself and we talked about it and he told me he needs to pay his price to the community and justice system,” Greg White, Kristian’s defence lawyer, said. “He says ‘I’m going to go to jail and I will serve my time.'”
READ MORE: Lethbridge police charge teacher with sexual assault of two boys
A woman who said she personally knows both Kristian and one of the victims, said she does not believe Kristian is remorseful for his actions.
“Because of my history with Mr. Kristian, I don’t feel like his expressions of remorse were sincere,” Tracy Heggie said. “I of course hoped he could be punished as much as he could. I have children that attended the school he taught in and it caused me a great deal of concern with trust issues.”
A psychological assessment found Kristian is a moderate to high risk to reoffend. In addition to the 12-year sentence, a judge order Kristian to be registered for life as a sex offender.
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