Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard was sentenced to five years behind bars on Thursday in the sexual assault of an Ottawa woman, an offence the presiding judge called a “particularly degrading rape.”
In delivering her sentence in a downtown Toronto courtroom, Ontario Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts said Hoggard’s offence involved “gratuitous degradation” and “gratuitous violence.”
“It is no exaggeration to say that (the woman) is no longer the same person she was before the attack. She was physically hurt … far more significant was the psychological hurt,” Roberts said.
Read more: Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard a risk to public, Crown says at sentencing hearing
“Whatever fleeting moments of gratification Mr. Hoggard derived from his conduct, they have come at the staggering and utterly unacceptable cost of forever changing (the woman’s) life.”
The judge said she accepted the woman’s evidence “in its entirety.”
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 judge accepted as fact that Hoggard raped the woman multiple times anally, vaginally and orally, choked her, spit on her, called her a slut and a pig and oinked at her like an animal.
The Crown had sought a sentence of six to seven years — above the normal range for a sexual assault by someone with no criminal record, court heard. The prosecution argued Hoggard was a risk to the public.
#BREAKING Jacob Hoggard is sentenced to 5 years in prison. A DNA order, 20 years on the Sex offender registry, 10 year weapons ban, no contact with the victim
— Catherine McDonald (@cmcdonaldglobal) October 20, 2022
Meanwhile, the defence had argued Hoggard should remain behind bars for three to four years. They pointed to a psychiatric report that said he was a low risk to reoffend and had a good chance of rehabilitation.
Dr. Hy Bloom, a forensic psychiatrist, was retained by the defence to evaluate whether Hoggard had any sexual paraphelias — disorders defined as having sexual desires or behaviours that involve an unwilling person or another person’s distress or injury.
Bloom concluded Hoggard did not.
Bloom said Hoggard’s sexual problems were rooted in fans throwing themselves at him. Court heard Hoggard had some 200 sexual partners in his life, with 60 to 70 per cent of them being fans.
The judge said she did not accept Bloom’s report that said Hoggard was a low risk to reoffend.
