Former Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard has been sentenced to five years behind bars after being found guilty earlier this year of sexually assaulting an Ottawa woman in 2016.
The Crown was seeking a sentence of 6 to 7 seven years for Hoggard, while the defence proposed 3 to 4 years.
The prosecution had argued Hoggard was a risk to the public while the defence pointed to a psychiatric report that said he was a low risk to reoffend.
Crown attorney Jill Witkins in a statement to the media. “Mr. Hoggard’s conviction and sentence sends a message to our community that sexual violence will not be tolerated by our community, by anyone.”
The Judge also ordered that Jacob be issued a 10 year ban on possessing any weapons and placed on the sex offender registry for the next 20 years.
After the judge read her sentence, the defence asked for a moment for Hoggard to say goodbye to his wife Rebekah Asselstine. The two held each other until Hoggard was cuffed and led away.
Hoggard pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm at his trial in June. His lawyers had argued that Hoggard had consensual sex with the complainant.
The 2016 sexual assault took place in a Toronto hotel room and the Ottawa woman told Hoggard’s sentencing hearing that what happened will haunt her for the rest of her life.
The woman was in her early twenties when Hoggard, who is from B.C.’s Lower Mainland, assaulted her in a Toronto hotel room. She cannot be identified under a publication ban.
Hoggard had also been charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm in the case of a teenage fan, as well as sexual interference involving that complainant but was found not guilty on those offences.
38 Year Old Jacob Hoggard had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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Story info from The Canadian Press and CBC News
