Warning: This story contains details of sexual assault. Discretion is advised.
For sexually assaulting two girls under the age of 16, a Vernon, B.C., man with severe social deficits has been given a 23-month conditional sentence.
Brydon Alexander Vaux, 23, will spend the next 12 months under house arrest, only able to leave for medical appointments, counselling and for work or school, according to a court decision posted this week.
For the next 11 months, Vaux will have a curfew from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., and will be banned from contact with anyone under the age of 18 unless there’s adult supervision. Then he will be on probation for three years.
It’s a sentence far more lenient than the five years in prison that the Crown had argued in favour of, or the 14-year maximum laid out in the Criminal Code. It’s also a sentence B.C. Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin said did not come easily.
“I have found crafting an appropriate sentence in this case to be a particularly difficult exercise. It involves two young, vulnerable young girls whose lives are forever altered as a result of the sexual interference of their bodily integrity by Mr. Vaux,” Devlin wrote in the decision.
“It also involves a young man who, while chronologically an adult, lacks the maturity and cognitive and social skills of someone his age.”
According to the agreed statement of facts, in the summer of 2018, Vaux met a 15-year-old girl through mutual friends on Facebook.
One day, he took her for a drive in his Jeep then to his father’s house where he was living. They drank alcohol and had a hot tub, Devlin wrote in her decision.
Then Vaux asked her if she wanted to have sex with him, to which she said no and he raped her. When he finished, Vaux called her dad and told him to pick his daughter up.
The next assault on July 4, 2018, Mr. Vaux picked up a just-turned 14-year-old girl he knew from school, drove around with her, and then went to his father’s house with her, where he was residing.
They watched a movie in his bed in the basement. When he tried to have sex with her, she said she didn’t want to. He forced her anyway and then drove her back to school, from which point she walked home.
In sentencing, Devlin said that Vaux’s “moral culpability was significantly reduced as a result of his cognitive deficits.”
Devlin said Vaux is someone who has been plagued his entire life by significant social deficits that have impacted every aspect of his life.
Due to his Autism Spectrum Disorder, he has difficulty developing, the psychologist said maintaining and understanding interpersonal relationships.
“In school, Vaux was bullied and tormented by his peers. They called him names, subjected him to pranks, teased, taunted, and physically tormented him,” she said.
“Mr. Vaux reported to the PSR author that he was lonely throughout his childhood due to a lack of friendships.
The doctor who conducted a court-ordered psychological assessment on Vaux said the 23-year-old’s significant social deficits probably contributed to his offending behaviour.
Devlin added that while it’s not an excuse, it provides “important contextual framework.”
The assessment indicated that Vaux would likely be vulnerable to exploitation and abuse within the correctional setting.
That same assessment indicated that he had strong social supports and is within “the average range of risk to re-offend sexually.”
He is also of Metis heritage and Devlin said she applied the Gladue and Ipeelee principles to sentencing.
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