Edmonton sex predator gets 11 years in jail

An Alberta man at the centre of the high-profile "no means no" case seven years ago will now be going to prison for a maximum of11 years for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl.

Duringsentencing Thursday, Judge Sterling Sanderman described Steve Ewanchuk as loathsome.

"After you were confronted by the girl's mother about your actions, you continued abusing in the same fashion, and attempted to manipulate the family and tried to get them to not contact authorities," Sanderman said.

Though the Crown had pushed for a 25-year term, Sanderman said a sentence that harsh was never an option, because its against legal sentencing principles.

But he ruled that Ewanchuk's egregious conduct against the young child was serious enough to impose consecutive sentences for the three sexual assaults in question.

Sentence of 16 years, minus remand time

Sanderman settled on a total sentence of 16years, but gave Ewanchuk 5 years for time served at the remand centre while in custody.

An additional order from the judge means Ewanchuk won't be allowed to apply for parole until he has served half of that time.

Sanderman pointed to many aggravating factors he consideredin sentencing. Theyincluded the accused's criminal record, as well as the fact Ewanchuk has abused another child in the past.

The judge said he was also troubled that Ewanchuk has never accepted responsibility for his crimes and always tries to blame someone else.

Ewanchuk's lawyer, Chris Millsap, called the sentence harsh, but said his client, who is still not in good health, is relieved the court proceedings are over.

"It's been a difficult process for him to basically have a parade of people take the stand and speak about all of the worst facets of his life," he said."It's a difficult thing for anybody to go through."

Millsap wouldn't rule out the possibility of an appeal.

Made headlines for "no means no" case

Ewanchuk has been convicted for several sexual assaults, starting in 1969, involving females ranging in age from eight to 20.

He made headlines in Canada's landmark "no means no" case, a nine-year court battle that fuelled national debate over sexual consent.

In 1999, the Supreme Court convicted him of sexual assault for groping a 17-year-old girl during a job interview, even though she told him three times to stop.

The highest court threw out Ewanchuk's defence of implied consent and changed the country's sex assault law to put the onus on the initiator of sex to obtain consent.

Ewanchuk was convicted in November 2005 in the latest case involving the eight-year-old, but sentencing was delayed while the Crown argued he should be declared a dangerous offender and jailed indefinitely.

Sanderman didn't go that far. Ewanchuk's long-term offender status means he will be under strict supervision for 10 years after parole.