Canada – Convicted child molester could be set free today

Article
The Brampton Guardian
Thursday July 12 2007
PAM DOUGLAS, Staff Writer

BRAMPTON – A man sentenced Tuesday to 10 1/2 years in prison for sexually molesting children could be set free today pending his appeal.

George Stea, 63, a former Brampton resident now living in Montrose, British Columbia, has appealed his sentence and his conviction on 10 sex charges involving girls between the ages of 8 and 16 between 1968 and 1989.

He has applied for bail and the court of appeal will hear the application today, likely making its ruling today, as well.

Stea filed an appeal just hours after Madame Justice Silja Seppi sent him to prison.

Stea has maintained that the five victims are part of a conspiracy against him, but Seppi noted in her decision that there was no evidence of a conspiracy brought forward. She ruled Stea, who testified in his own defence, was “not a credible witness. I do not believe his denial of the incidents.”

She concluded the testimony of the victims was straightforward and unembellished, and said Stea “coloured the truth to tailor his evidence” in at least one instance, and was untruthful when he testified he has no mental health issues.

Stea is on medication for a bipolar condition, Seppi said.

He was also at one time prescribed a drug that has the effect of blunting sexual drive. He was seeing a psychiatrist in the 1970s and, according to the doctor’s notes, “there were clear admissions in the clinical interviews about his (Stea’s) sexual obsession (with one of the victims),” Seppi wrote in her reasons for judgment when she convicted him.

Character letters from 18 friends, family and prominent citizens of Montrose were filed with the court prior to Stea’s sentencing, describing him as friendly, gentle, honest, professional and non-aggressive. Several expressed disbelief at the charges against him.

A psychiatrist who assessed Stea last year told court he concluded Stea is still sexually interested in children.

“It’s not something that goes away with age,” testified Dr. Ronald Langevin, an expert in the assessment of sex offenders. He said recidivism among pedophiles does not decrease with age, as it does with other offenders.

However, he said Stea is a “low risk” to re-offend, citing other factors such as employment, marital status, and financial security that reduce the risk of recidivism.