Editor’s note: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers.
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The judge said James Munroe’s campaign of violence against women was the worst he’d ever seen in his court.
“I find that Mr. Munroe’s conduct achieved a level of depravity that could only be imagined in a work of fiction,” Superior Court Justice Spencer Nicholson said at Munroe’s sentencing hearing Wednesday.
“He actively sought out his victims, demeaned them and treated them as if they were playthings for his enjoyment.”
Nicholson called Munroe’s conduct the “most egregious that I have encountered” as he sentenced the 34-year-old Sarnia man to 14 1/2 years in prison for 17 convictions including sexual assaults, making written child pornography, sexual interference and multiple counts of threatening bodily harm and criminal harassment dating back to 2014.
After factoring in his pre-sentence custody, Munroe has a little more than 10 1/2 years left to serve.
“There can be no place in our society for behaviour such as that engaged in by Mr. Munroe. He must be separated from society to signal the community’s rejection of such wickedness as well as to protect women in the community, no matter how their lives have unfolded, from predators such as this,” Nicholson said.
Munroe pleaded guilty to the charges involving eight victims, two since deceased, in January on the eve of his scheduled three-week trial. During that court proceeding and the sentencing hearing two weeks later, Nicholson heard graphic and disturbing facts about Munroe’s crimes.
Munrioe was brought to London police attention in 2022 when a London sex worker, who has since died, reported Munroe had sent her a string of horrifying messages that included his desire to choke and rape her. When she refused, the messages became even more violent.
Police sent out a news release with Munroe’s phone number, which led to three more victims coming forward with more anonymous harassing messages that would escalate to descriptions of extreme violence. Some of the women had their images posted on social media and fetish websites.
One sex worker dropped Munroe as a client because his requests made her uncomfortable, but when she was intoxicated one night, she mistakenly contacted Munroe instead of her boyfriend to tell him where she was.
The woman woke up at her parents’ home and was sore. She received an anonymous text from Munroe, who told her he’d sexually assaulted her until she was unconscious. He continued to extort her, and said he wanted to kidnap, rape and sell her to his friends. He also sent messages to the woman’s boyfriend.
Munroe anonymously asked for intimate images and, not realizing he was her extorter, she had sex with Munroe because she knew he’d pay her. In the video, she clearly told him to stop and could be seen passing out during a forced sex act.
When she dropped her phone number, it was reassigned to a 13-year-old girl, who began to get intensely sexual texts from Munroe. He also posed as a 15-year-old girl, but used the name of one of his victims and posted images of her to adult men.
Another woman, who was an alcoholic, would have sex with him in exchange for alcohol. He would record the encounters, sometimes with his own child in the room.
Nicholson almost seemed to run out of words to reflect how repulsive Munroe’s actions were. “Sinister,” “menacing” and “obscene beyond comprehension” were some of his descriptors.
“Mr. Munroe’s actions were beyond disrespectful. They were inhumane,” he said.
“Sexual assault is an act of violence in any context, but the violence that Mr. Munroe enacted on his victims in this case was wanton and cruel. Clearly, he was only interested in his own personal gratification and treated his victims like disposable items.”
The judge mostly agreed with the sentencing suggestion from assistant Crown attorneys Heather Palin and Heather Donkers, who sought a total sentence of 16 1/2 years after the legal sentencing principle of totality was applied.
“Frankly, it strikes me that unless a significant sentence is imposed, Mr. Munroe might be inclined to continue this type of behaviour,” Nicholson said.
He calculated the sentence would have been 23 years and three months if Munroe had been sentenced on each charge before applying the principle that adjusts a sentence if it is deemed too crushing.
Munroe addressed the court and his victims before sentencing. “I’m sorry for the victims involved. They didn’t do anything to deserve what I did. I apologize to the court for my actions. I’ll try to make myself a better person and look forward to not being back here.
“I will do my time as is determined by you, the judge, and use that time to reflect on whatever caused this behaviour,” he added.
Nicholson said he always tries to “provide words of encouragement” to people he sentences. “I am a firm believer in redemption. I heard you offer both an apology and a vow to try to improve yourself and reflect upon your actions. I hope you do both.
“No further words can adequately convey the harm that I believe you have caused by your predatory and demeaning and dehumanizing behaviour to these victims,” he said.