Border guard convicted of groping four women should go to jail: Crown
Canada Border Services Agency officer Daniel Greenhalgh leaves B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster on Friday, September 17, 2010.Photograph by: Les Bazso, PNGSending Daniel Greenhalgh to jail will deter other border officers from committing similar crimes, the prosecution at his trial argued Friday.
A B.C. Supreme Court jury found Greenhalgh guilty in October of three counts of sexual assault and one count of breach of trust by a public officer.
Greenhalgh worked for Canada Border Services Agency at the Douglas border crossing when, in separate incidents, he strip-searched four women without their consent in April and May of 2007 and sexually touched three of them.
One of the incidents took place in a public washroom while the three others took place in fenced outdoor areas.
Crown prosecutor Winston Sayson said the four victims have been profoundly affected.
Victim-impact statements showed that some of the women continued to have trouble with people in positions of authority and felt humiliated and embarrassed.
“I just hope that no more women have to go through it,” one victim wrote.
Sayson gave Justice Frits Verhoeven two sentencing suggestions: a 2-1/2- to three-year sentence in a federal penitentiary or two years less a day in a provincial jail followed by three years of probation. Sayson said a conditional sentence — one served in the community — is not appropriate.
One of the primary goals of Greenhalgh’s sentence should be to send a message to others, he added.
“This is a case that screams for deterrence,” Sayson said. “It is an appalling and atrocious abuse of his authority.”
Greenhalgh’s lawyer, Joe McCarthy, disagreed.
He suggested a conditional sentence of two years less a day, followed by a period of probation. If Verhoeven decides that a term of incarceration is necessary, McCarthy said 12 to 15 months in a provincial jail is sufficient.
“It is not a lenient sentence, My Lord. There is more than one way to punish a man,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said Greenhalgh has also been punished because of the “negative publicity” the case has received.
He said Greenhalgh’s name and face have repeatedly been linked to the crimes of which he was convicted. Greenhalgh lost his career, family, social standing, home and savings.
“No one would think he got off lightly,” McCarthy said. “Mr. Greenhalgh has risen high and fallen farther.”
There is also no need to deter other border guards from committing similar offences, McCarthy said.
“This is an unusual offence . . . The deterrence is already there.”
Verhoeven is scheduled to deliver his decision March 4.
At the beginning of the day Sayson told the judge that Greenhalgh’s father had attempted to interfere with the pre-sentence report prepared by a probation officer.
David Greenhalgh, a former police officer, tried to have the probation officer remove parts of the report that cast his son in an negative light, Sayson said.
McCarthy said Greenhalgh’s father had done this contrary to Greenhalgh’s and McCarthy’s instructions, and apologized to the court on David’s behalf.
“He’s an emotional man. He did a foolish thing,” McCarthy said.
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