Warning: This story contains disturbing details. Discretion is advised.
A former massage therapist told a Halifax courtroom he feels “terrible” about sexually assaulting a woman with violence several years ago before he was sentenced to four years in prison.
Trevor Jordan Stevens attended a sentencing hearing Friday for the violent sexual assault, where he slapped a woman, raped her, and put his hands over her mouth and throat to prevent her for escaping or calling for help.
At the end of June, Stevens, a 35-year-old from Dartmouth, was found guilty of sexual assault, assault, overcoming resistance by attempting to choke, suffocate or strangle another person, and one count of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.
The offence happened in late 2012/early 2013 at Stevens’s home in Dartmouth, which is also where he operated his massage practice. Stevens was charged in 2018.
The Crown had argued for a global sentence of four years in prison, citing the seriousness of the offences and the “profound and lasting impact” on the victim.
Crown attorney Katie Lovett said Stevens’s actions were a “significant violation” of the victim’s physical and psychological integrity. She said the victim trusted Stevens and he took advantage of that trust.
Lovett said the sexual assault affected the victim emotionally, physically, financially and psychologically. While her impact statement was not read aloud in court, Lovett quoted one line where the victim said, “I don’t know how to properly convey the enormity of what has been lost by this.”
Defence lawyer Joel Pink said Stevens is married, has no prior criminal record and was well-liked by his peers. He also recommended a sentence of four years.
In his decision Friday in Halifax Supreme Court, Justice C. Richard Coughlan described his offence as a “major sexual assault” and said the impacts of sexual assault on victims is well-known.
He said the victim impact statement outlined how she was affected.
“Since the sexual assault, she worries all the time: when she leaves her home in the morning, when she leaves work in the evening. She worries about her and her loved ones’ safety,” he said, adding that she also suffers from panic attacks.
“The event has had a terrible effect on her life.”
Coughlan sentenced Stevens to four years in a federal institution for the sexual assault. Stevens was also sentenced to 12 months for uttering threats and two years for choking to overcome resistance, with both sentences to be served concurrently with the first one.
Stevens was not sentenced for assault due to the Kienapple principle, which states that an offender cannot be convicted for multiple offences for a single criminal act.
Stevens will also need to submit a DNA sample, be added to a sex offender registry for the next 20 years and cannot own weapons for 10 years. He will also not be able to have contact with the victim during his sentence.
During the hearing, Stevens told the court he accepted full responsibility for what he did.
“I feel terrible about it. I think about it all the time. I would do anything to take it back,” he said. “I understand that there will be a lasting impact and I pray that the victim can put this behind her.”
He added that he will do anything he can while in prison to make himself a better person.
“I’ll never bother (the victim) again and I will never do anything like this ever again in my life. I swear it, I swear it on my mother’s grave.”
Accused in other sexual assaults
Stevens is also facing a number of other sexual assault charges.
In early August, he was charged with allegedly sexually assaulting a person during massage therapy appointments between 2017 and 2019. He was also charged with aggravated assault.
Later that month, he was handed 12 more charges for incidents that also allegedly happened during massage therapy appointments during the same time period.
He was charged with three counts of sexual assault, three counts of assault, two counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of assault causing bodily harm, one count of aggravated assault, and one count of assault by choking or strangling.
Stevens was also charged on Sept. 7 for two sexual assaults against two different women, according to the Public Prosecution Service.
Those charges have not been proven in court. Stevens, who has been on remand since Aug. 16, will appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court on Jan. 26, 2022.
While he was first charged in 2018, Stevens continued to work as a massage therapist until his membership with the Massage Therapists’ Association of Nova Scotia was suspended in May of this year.