‘The victim was not known to him; she was a stranger,’ the Crown said during Clifford James Alphonse’s sentencing hearing in Saskatoon
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Warning: Child sex assault discussed
A 45-year-old man from the Saskatchewan community of Black Lake has been sentenced to five years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl in a Royal University Hospital bathroom.
Clifford James Alphonse pleaded guilty in Saskatoon provincial court to sexually assaulting the girl on Oct. 11, 2023. Court heard he was visiting his sick daughter and remembers meeting the girl outside the entrance of the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital after drinking almost an entire bottle of hand sanitizer to subdue his hangover.
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“The victim was not known to him; she was a stranger,” Crown prosecutor Lee Hnatiuk told court.
According to the agreed facts, the girl had asked Alphonse for a cigarette and he groped her as she sat smoking on a bench. He then took her into a bathroom near the hospital’s old main entrance, told her to get naked and raped her without a condom, covering her mouth so she couldn’t scream for help.
The girl told police that she escaped by trying to kick and punch Alphonse. She found a security guard and described the man, who’d mentioned “Clifford the big red dog” and had his name on his hat, Hnatiuk said.
Alphonse was arrested in the hospital. Police obtained video surveillance of him walking with the girl toward the bathroom, and his DNA was found during a sexual assault kit.
The girl had also told police that Alphonse said he had a gun, but no gun was ever found, Hnatiuk said.
Court heard the girl came to the hospital from Prince Albert for a medical appointment, and her guardian dropped her off at the entrance before parking the car.
Hnatiuk said the Crown asked the victim to provide an impact statement, but nothing was submitted.
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Judge Brad Mitchell accepted a joint submission from the Crown and defence. Less enhanced credit for the time he spent on remand, Alphonse has just over three years of his sentence left to serve.
Hnatiuk said the five-year prison term reflects the severity of the crime — the sexual assault of a minor — and Alphonse’s 52 prior convictions for threats, assaults, causing disturbances, resisting arrests and for a sexual assault from 2012.
Defence lawyer Ron Piché said his client told him that he was sexually abused at residential school and physically abused by family members who struggled with alcoholism, including being run over by his own father.
“Life has not been kind to Clifford, and we all know victims of sexual abuse — it’s an intergenerational thing — they certainly are more prone to this kind of activity,” he said.
Alphonse, who court heard has six children and owns a sawmill in Black Lake, apologized to the victim in court.
“The day that I did the foolish thing — drinking, it’s not for me — but I took it, (and) here I am explaining my feelings. At least God will protect me, my children,” he said.
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“I don’t want to be in this situation ever again in my life.”
As part of his sentence, Alphonse is prohibited from being around anyone under the age of 16 for 10 years after his release, unless supervised by a court-approved adult.
At the defence’s request, Mitchell made an exception for his children and grandchildren. Hnatiuk said the Crown has “a reason to be concerned,” but couldn’t go into specifics about why.
Alphonse will also be on the national sex offender registry for 20 years.
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