MacIntosh sentenced to 18 months in jail

Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh was sentenced Wednesdayto 18 monthsin jail, with no credit for time served, for sexuallyabusingminors in the 1970s in Nova Scotia.

Crown attorney Diane MacGrath had asked a judge in Port Hawkesbury to impose a two-year prison term.

MacGrathargued thatMacIntosh should not be given any credit for time served because he was already given creditathissentencinglast year on 13 sex charges.

In January, MacIntosh was convicted of two counts of gross indecency and two counts of indecent assault. The crimes against two boys happened more than 30 years ago in Port Hawkesbury.

But defence lawyer David Bright argued that two of those charges should be stayed, and the sentence should be between 30 and 90 days. Bright said both victims were over the age of consent, and the proposed sentencewould fallin line with what was handed out in the 1970s.

RCMP in Nova Scotia received the complaints about the sexual abusemore than 15 years ago.

MacIntosh was arrested in 2007 in India, where he worked as a telecommunications specialist for 13 years. He was extradited to Canada two months later.

Victim describes impact

An expert witness told the court that MacIntosh is a low to moderate risk to reoffend if he is not allowed to be around young males.

One of MacIntosh's victimsdescribed how being sexually abused changed his life.

"I trusted him to take me places and do things, and then he violated me," the man told CBC News. "The rest is history."

The man cannot be named because of a publication ban. He said he was about 13 when MacIntosh, a local businessman, started acting like a father and then began abusing him.

The victim eventually married, raised a family and ran a business. But there were problems.

"I couldn't trust other people," he said. "I probably [became] a workaholic, but I also became absent from my family. So when my sons were 14 and 15, I wasn't good."

The man would like to see MacIntosh, 67,go to prison.

"I would like to see him get federal time, meaning more than two years," the man said. "But I don't think that's going to happen."

MacIntosh wassentenced last year for abusing twoother boys. He was sentenced to four years in prison but givencredit for his two years on remand, leaving only two years less a day to serve.

He had been released on house arrest, pending an appeal of those convictions.