BRANTFORD – A Southwestern Ontario man wept in court and begged for forgiveness as he was sentenced for a series of sexual crimes separated by decades.
Kevin Jayne, 58, pleaded for forgiveness from his wife, family and God for his “revolting and negligent actions” when he was allowed to address the court.
“I wish I could take back what I’ve done,” Jayne said. “I wish I could take it all back. There’s no way of knowing the damage that can be done until it’s done and I just pray that everyone involved will see that I’ve had a change of heart.
“I’m sorry for all the grief I’ve caused. It will never go away.”
Jayne pleaded guilty to sexual assault and luring a child from incidents in the late 1980s and luring a child last year, along with possession of child pornography.
Justice Robert Gee accepted Jayne’s remorse and shame but said the idea that people can’t know the damage they will cause when sexual crimes are committed against children is dead wrong.
“To say you couldn’t understand the damage until you’re standing here and reflecting back is a notion we’re trying to change,” Gee said. “It should be obvious to anyone – if you engage in the sexual abuse of a child, it’s going to damage them.”
As well, Gee said, those who engage in watching child pornography must learn it’s not a ‘victimless crime,’ instead causing life-long damage to real children who live the rest of their lives knowing that “someone, somewhere could be looking at their abuse.”
The judge said the criminal justice system is working on tackling the problem from both ends by taking harsh sentencing positions on the people who make child porn and significant penalties on those who consume it.
The charges unfolded after Jayne was targeted in a police sting when he was trying to lure a person he thought was a 15-year-old girl but who was actually a police officer.
When police arrested him in January 2023, they examined his phone and found child pornography. Alerted to the charges, an adult woman came forward and told police of things Jayne did to her when she was an adolescent.
Assistant Crown attorney Anthony Minelli told the court the span of nearly 40 years between the two sets of incidents was concerning.
“This wasn’t a one-off incident. Mr. Jayne committed sexual offences and then 30 or 40 years later commits these online child luring offences that really speak about a lessened prospect for rehabilitation,” Minelli said.
And, while the man’s collection of child porn images and video was a small one, it featured men involved in sexual activity with very young children, said Minelli, who asked the judge to consider a six-year sentence less time served.
Jayne’s arrest caused a major stir on Six Nations after social media posts misidentified him as a man connected to a local business there. That business was targeted both financially and with erroneous accusations about its operations.
Defence lawyer Eric Angevine said, once arrested, Jayne instructed the lawyer to move forward with a guilty plea even though there was little evidence about the very dated charges.
Angevine also said the 15 months Jayne spent in jail – normally credited at 22 months – was “extremely hard” time with almost one-third of it in lockdown. He suggested extra credit for that time and an additional two years plus one day should be the sentence, essentially a four-year punishment.
Gee said the jail conditions were not what one should expect in a “rich and prosperous country” but, he said, that’s just one factor in his sentence.
“The sexual assault of a child and child luring are both egregious offences,” said the judge. “What Mr. Angevine is suggesting is too low. I think the Crown’s position is reasonable.”
Gee sentenced Jayne to a total of six years, giving credit for time already served of one year and 10 months.
He will be on the sexual offenders list and ordered not to have certain weapons for the rest of his life.