Victoria man sentenced for sexually assaulting teen after supplying her drugs

The Victoria provincial courthouse as seen on November 3, 2021. (CTV News)

Warning: This story contains disturbing details about sexual assaults involving a minor.

A Victoria man has been sentenced to five years in prison for twice sexually assaulting a teenage girl – one of four minors he was convicted of targeting over an eight-month period in 2018.

Peter John Hooper, 49, was sentenced last month for two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference involving the same teenage victim in 2018.

The court heard that Hooper met the girl, who had dropped out of school, in June 2018, when she was 14 years old and abusing street drugs in downtown Victoria.

Langford assault

The victim and two other people got into a car with Hooper that month, and the four of them drove to various locations in Victoria to buy and smoke methamphetamine, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jan Brongers wrote in her decision.

Hooper eventually drove the group to a motorhome in the Bear Mountain area of Langford, where they consumed more drugs before Hooper left to get condoms, according to the judge.

When he returned, Hooper exposed himself and sexually assaulted the victim before leaving around 4 a.m.

Hooper did not ask the victim her age and she did not offer it, according to the judge.

Another man who was with the group instructed the victim to "tell Mr. Hooper that she was 17 if Mr. Hooper were to ask," Brongers wrote.

Saanich assault

Hooper again sexually assaulted the girl the following October, when the now 15-year-old victim "had become a meth addict and was consuming crack daily," according to the sentencing decision.

The assault occurred inside Hooper's car at Mount Tolmie in Saanich, after the victim and her friend contacted him to provide them with drugs, the court heard.

The victim was "willing to have sex with Mr. Hooper to get drugs," the judge wrote.

Before he assaulted the victim, Hooper gave the girl a pipe that she believed contained meth. When she smoked it, however, she felt sleepy and became convinced Hooper had instead filled the pipe with fentanyl.

The victim "did not want to have sexual intercourse with Mr. Hooper, but did want drugs," the judge wrote. "However, Mr. Hooper did not give (the victim) any drugs other than what he provided her to smoke prior to the sexual activity."

Again, Hooper did not ask her age, the court heard.

'Nightmares, flashbacks'

The girl testified at trial that she suffers from complex post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the assaults.

"She has nightmares, flashbacks when she is intimate with partners, and is triggered when she sees people who look like Mr. Hooper," the judge summarized.

The victim's parents provided a victim impact statement saying Hooper "preyed on an extremely vulnerable girl" who was "dependent on drugs and easily influenced."

"He took advantage of a situation that frankly was vile and incomprehensible," they said. "To this day, we are still navigating her recovery and PTSD symptoms, and will likely continue to do so for a long time."

Prior convictions

Hooper, who was 42 years old at the time of the first assault, had been using methamphetamine consistently before his arrest in late 2018, the court heard.

He was convicted of "sexually motivated offences" against three other teenage girls between May and December of that year, pleading guilty to sexual assault, sexual exploitation and other offences involving girls ranging in age from 15 to 17 years old.

Hooper's lawyer argued his client should get a conditional sentence he could serve in the community, saying Hooper's drug use during "made him careless about who he was spending time with and what he was doing," the judge wrote.

"In particular, Mr. Hooper was not careful about verifying the age of persons with whom he engaged in sexual activity," the judge summarized. "This reckless behaviour ceased after Mr. Hooper stopped using drugs."

The Crown prosecution asked for a sentence of eight to 10 years in prison.

The judge sentenced Hooper to two years and four months for the Langford assault, followed by two years and eight months for the Saanich assault, for a total sentence of five years in prison.

"Hooper's conduct must be denounced, and he must be deterred from engaging in such abhorrent behaviour in the future," the judge concluded. "The fact that Mr. Hooper has been convicted of similar crimes involving similar victims who were also vulnerable adolescents at the time the offences were committed is also very troubling."