R. v. Clark Date:, 2012 BCPC 59

Citation: R. v. Clark Date: 20120215 2012 BCPC 0059 File No: 86625-3C Registry: Port Coquitlam IN THE PROVINCIAL COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA REGINA v. DOUGLAS ARCHIE CLARK ORAL REASONS FOR SENTENCE OF THE HONOURABLE JUDGE ST. PIERRE Counsel for the Crown: G. Comer Counsel for the Accused: P. Riddell Place of Hearing: Port Coquitlam , B.C. Date of Hearing: February 15, 2012 Date of Judgment: February 15, 2012 [ 1 ] THE COURT : It will not surprise you, Mr.

Clark, to know that many of these people may not accept that apology. [ 2 ] You have been incredibly gifted at abusing the trust that you gained from those relationships and the manner in which you tore apart those relationships, which were formed with all the love and trust that people have as members of the human family and the regard that people have for each other forged from getting to know someone, getting to trust them, and then being the sympathetic and incredibly generous people that they were only to have you take advantage of that. [ 3 ] There are probably others that you tried to get money from and were not able to, but these people were the most sympathetic, the most empathetic, and the most laudable members of society that are the victims of your crimes. [ 4 ] That is sad because it destroys the fabric of society when we have these types of crimes because those people now fall off that highest level of society, and the regard that we give them as being the most generous and the most empathetic people and put them down into some lower category where they are now cynical and unable to trust anybody.

And that is sad. [ 5 ] It is incredibly sad having to read these victim impact statements and to learn of the devastating impact that your crimes have had

on people's lives. It really is. There is nothing that this Court can do and nothing that I can say that is going to change that, or will change people's attitudes and behaviours now that they have been affected so devastatingly. There is nothing I can do to put salve on those wounds or to try to help them heal because it is not going to make any difference.

Hopefully one day they can try to put this particularly bad relationship behind them. [ 6 ] I have a joint submission from two experienced counsel with respect to the disposition in this case and the courts of this land, including our own Court of Appeal, have repeatedly said that a judge must give serious consideration to a joint submission and if that joint submission accords with the general principles of sentencing and is within a certain range, there are certainly constraints on a judge to go outside of that. [ 7 ] In addition to that, there are also practical constraints relating to disclosure I am sure of important and legitimate factors which may have had an influence on the joint recommendation that the judge is not always privy to. [ 8 ] I have taken into account the guilty pleas that have been entered here, certainly before this trial, but also after the trial started. [ 9 ] It could not have been easy, I hope, for Mr.

Clark to have sat here and listened to his own son and what he had to say about his relationship and what a positive upbringing he thought he had to have the ideal that he held of a father destroyed in the manner it was. That is unfortunate for him and it is unfortunate for you Mr. Clark, to now have a relationship like that with your own flesh and blood which you have destroyed and now the grandchildren whose relationship with you is destroyed as well. [ 10 ] I have taken into account, as well, an order for restitution which our Court of Appeal has also said must be remembered is itself a punishment.

Accordingly, it serves to mitigate what otherwise might be an appropriate term of imprisonment even though nobody knows whether this restitution order is going to ever be satisfied. [ 11 ] I thank Mr. Gale for coming, and also Mr. Patrick Stephen is here, and I have read their impact statements, and Ms. Lovatt and Mr.

Sheardown as well, all of which again there are no words to describe how sad this whole scenario is. [ 12 ] With the admissions of fact and the joint submission here that I have before me, I am satisfied that it is appropriate for me to accede to that joint submission and impose the recommended sentence. [ 13 ] The cases that I have before me are indicative of the fact that the sentence is in the range and I just wanted to quote one paragraph from Judge Brooks in the Samons (phonetic) case which I think is applicable, to you Mr.

Clark, as well as really expressing similar sentiments as what I would like to express and Judge Brooks says: When one thinks of these offences, one can see how cruel they are. What stands out to me as I think of that cruelty inflicted on people who are simply expressing their love for [the woman in that case] is that here she was committing fraudulent behaviour, sitting in her bed where she was faking an illness, watching family members suffer, watching family members take care of her, all of this she is not once coming forward and saying "This is terrible.

How can I do this to these people?" [ 14 ] And I express that similar sentiment. It is astonishing how you could have looked into the eyes of these people and not said to yourself "How can I possibly do this to these people?" That is something you are going to have to live with for the rest of your life. [ 15 ] I would have sentenced Mr. Clark to three years in a federal penitentiary given the case law and the submissions I have before me, including a joint submission for that sentence.

Since he has served six months and since counsel are agreed that due to the dates of these offences he is entitled to credit for that time served on a two-for-one basis, then the sentence that he still has to serve is two years and that is to be served in a federal penitentiary. [ 16 ] There will be restitution orders as well. These restitution orders will be: 1. To the benefit of Mr. Charles Gale in the sum of $22,161. 2. To the benefit of Mr. Henry Parker -- these are just the amounts I am reading off the admissions of fact here -- in the amount of $50,500. 3.

To the benefit of Michael Blok in the amount of $42,000. 4. To the benefit of Michael Grant in the amount of $40,200. 5. To the benefit of Allan and Susan Rauh in the amount of $6,000. 6. To the benefit of Mr. William Sheardown in the amount of $19,900. 7. To the benefit of Donald Simmonds in the amount of $36,000. 8. To the benefit of Donald Sheppard in the amount of $1,300. 9. To the benefit of Patrick and Linda Stephen in the amount of $209,000. 10. To the benefit of Christopher Clark in the amount of $20,000. 11.

To the benefit of Marjorie Lovatt in the amount of $85,000. [ 17 ] In addition, there will be an order for a DNA sample to be provided by Mr. Clark. [ 18 ] All of those sentences are concurrent. Count 19 is six months concurrent.

[ 19 ] Okay, Mr. Clark, I sure hope that you spend the rest of the years that you have in this world to try to make up for what has happened here, it is going to be very difficult for you to get there but I hope you make those efforts. [ORAL REASONS FOR SENTENCE CONCLUDED]