Man sentenced for groping 2 women on Vancouver Island transit bus

A transit bus in the Greater Victoria area is shown in an undated file photo.

A 36-year-old man who groped two women on a Victoria-area transit bus has been sentenced to three years of probation.

Alex James Barber was sentenced in the Western Communities court in Colwood last week after pleading guilty to two charges of sexual assault.

Barber told the court he was "really drunk" when he groped the buttocks of two female passengers who walked by him in the aisle of the bus on Nov. 1, 2021, adding that he thought "it would be a good way to find a girlfriend," according to the sentencing decision of B.C. provincial court Judge Ted Gouge.

Barber has a history of mental health challenges, the court heard, including diagnoses of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, cannabis use disorder and alcohol use disorder.

He was previously charged with a sexual assault that occurred on Sept. 6, 2021, for which he received a conditional discharge and two years of probation.

The Crown prosecutor had asked the judge for a suspended sentence and three years of probation, while Barber's lawyer argued for a conditional discharge and two years of probation.

"This is not the first time that Mr. Barber has committed a sexual assault," Gouge wrote in his reasons for denying the request for a conditional discharge.

"It is important, in the public interest, to state clearly that such conduct cannot, and will not, be tolerated. A discharge in this case, having in mind the events of Sept. 16, 2021, would fail to deliver that message."

The judge noted that one of the victims provided a statement to the court detailing "how such an assault can have lasting and traumatic effects on the victim."

A psychiatric report provided to the court stated that while Barber "is doing better than he was" in the past, his mental health challenges require ongoing care that he has occasionally resisted.

"In the past, his treating psychiatrists have successfully protected the public by detaining him involuntarily in a psychiatric hospital," the judge wrote.

"However, in view of the two sexual assaults which he has committed, I am not confident that oversight by his doctors will be sufficient for the protection of the public in the future."

The judge handed Barber three years of probation and a suspended sentence on the condition that he keep the peace, attend court when required, report regularly to his probation officer, take all medications prescribed to him and avoid recreational drugs and alcohol.

Barber was also ordered to submit a DNA sample and comply with the Sex Offender Information Registry Act for a period of 10 years.