The man behind an attack that left horrific and permanent injuries to a Osoyoos woman will have to serve just over two years and eight months in prison.
Brian Douglas Louie was found guilty in December 2012 of aggravated sexual assault and assault causing bodily harm for the attack that took place at a house party at a residence on the Osoyoos Indian Band earlier that year.
On Tuesday Judge Meg Shaw sentenced him to four years for the aggravated sexual assault and one year on the assault causing bodily harm.
Shaw then stated she would be granting enhanced credit for Louie for time served while in pre-sentence custody leaving him a total of 1,038 days left to serve. He also will be on the sex offender registry and has a lifetime prohibition on firearms.
The attack left the victim, whose name is subject to a publication ban, with psychological problems, post-concussion symptoms, bruising, physical scarring on her face and head and her genitals mutilated from a bite. Louie admitted during the trial he had been on an alcohol and cocaine-fuelled binge for days and only had five to seven hours of sleep when it happened.
Defence council Micah Rankin asked the court for a sentence of 2.5 to 3.5 years and extra credit for time served because of Louie’s aboriginal heritage and the fact that he has been held at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre in protective custody as inmates have labelled him a “skinner,” a term inmates use for to describe a rapist.
Psychological evaluations revealed during submissions in December state that Louie has behavioural problems and was listed as moderate-to-high risk to re-offend violently.
Some of the mitigating factors the judge considered are Louie had been working on his relationship with his mother who had been an alcoholic when he was younger and that he is a father of two children.
The court heard Louie has issues with alcohol and drugs, some of which stems from the traumatic death of his friends murdered on the Penticton Indian Band Reserve in 2004 and the death of two other close friends shortly after. During the trial Louie claimed that the bite was an accident and a “big misunderstanding.”
He denied responsibility for the attack until recently when his lawyer expressed the remorse on behalf of his client. Judge Shaw mentioned this in her sentencing and that she hopes the remorse is genuine. Louie, who appeared via video link from Kamloops correctional facility, blurted out “it is.”
Crown counsel John Swanson asked that Louie be sentenced to eight years for the aggravated sexual assault and two additional years for the assault causing bodily harm charge to be served consecutively.
He said the woman continues to suffer anxiety, nightmares about Louie returning to kill her, a loss of trust in people and that she cannot even conceive having a relationship with a man.
The woman began quietly weeping during the sentencing and by the time it was over she ran out of the courthouse sobbing uncontrollably.