B.C. judge sentences former Canadian Army reservist for sexual interference

A person walks past the Provincial Court of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

A British Columbia judge has sentenced a former Canadian Army reservist to two and a half years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to sexual interference involving a minor.

Shane Albert Blaine Taylor, 40, admitted to sexually touching a nine-year-old girl in Vancouver in September and October of 2019.

The victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, reported the incidents to her mother and later told police there were multiple instances of inappropriate touching, during which the man told her to "keep it a secret," according to the judge's sentencing decision published this week.

Taylor confessed to the crimes during a police interview, provincial court judge Gregory Rideout wrote.

The court heard evidence from a psychologist who said Taylor rationalized his conduct, believing the girl "instigated it, and that she was capable of consent," according to the decision.

"Taylor states that he became emotionally close to the complainant," Dr. Patrick Bartel's assessment report noted. "He states that he came to love her."

The court heard that Taylor served with the Canadian Armed Forces in Bosnia and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the campaign.

A spokesperson for the Department of National Defence confirmed Taylor enrolled in the Canadian Forces in October 2000 and served as a reservist until August 2009.

His tenure included a deployment to Bosnia from November 2002 until September 2003 as part of Operation Palladium, Canada's contribution to a NATO stabilization mission in the war-torn country, according to the department.

While still a reservist in 2006, Taylor was convicted of possessing child pornography – a charge to which he pleaded guilty, receiving a conditional sentence, the judge noted in his decision.

Crown prosecutors sought a sentence of four years in prison in the recent case, emphasizing that Taylor had been in a position of trust with his victim at the time of the offences.

The lawyer for the accused sought a conditional sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community, saying the PTSD diagnosis reduced Taylor's level of moral culpability.

"I am sympathetic to members of our armed forces, police services, or any other service that serves our nation, and that some members suffer from PTSD relating to their service. I have taken the accused's diagnosed PTSD into account," the judge concluded.

"I find the accused was well aware when he was committing the offending behaviour he knew what he was doing and encouraged the complainant to keep it a secret."

The judge submitted a request that Taylor serve his sentence in either the medium-security Mountain Institution in Agassiz or the multi-level Pacific Institution in Abbotsford.