CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A former Bluefield High School youth worker who sexually assaulted several teenage students was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail for his latest conviction.
Arthur Francis McGuigan appeared before Justice Gregory Cann in P.E.I. Supreme Court where he was sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of sexual assault.
The conviction is the latest for McGuigan who was sentenced in 2014 to 5.5 years in prison on previous charges involving former students, including sexual exploitation, luring a person younger than 18 and trafficking methamphetamine.
Crown attorney Gerald Quinn read an agreed statement of facts in court providing details about the sexual assault the complainant reported about six years after it happened.
The court heard McGuigan took the complainant, who was a student at the time, to an empty meeting room where they consumed marijuana and he performed oral sex on her.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, the complainant from the latest charge sat at the witness stand as she read a victim impact statement she said she struggled to write.
The woman told the court things haven’t gotten better for her since coming forward, but she also said she hates to refer to herself as a victim.
“It makes me feel inferior,” she said.
Reading the statement, the woman talked about difficulties keeping jobs, struggles with sobriety, trouble maintaining relationships and mental health issues that included at least a dozen suicide attempts.
She said when she heard about McGuigan’s other victims, she would stay up all night reading news articles about his court case and deciding if it was worth coming forward.
The woman said she reached a point where nothing could get her out of bed.
“My emotional state was catatonic.”
She told the court McGuigan was someone in a position of trust who “murdered” her ability to trust anyone.
The complainant said the whole encounter with McGuigan felt like a game of chess and who could outsmart who.
As she read her statement, the woman said she can now say that she won.
“Checkmate,” she said.
The Crown and defence made a joint sentencing recommendation of 90 days to be served intermittently with one year of probation.
In his submissions, Quinn told the court the complainant supported the Crown’s position on sentencing and for her it wasn’t about McGuigan going to jail.
It was about him taking responsibility, Quinn said.
Before hearing his sentence, McGuigan was offered the chance to address the court but declined to say anything.
After hearing all of the submissions and the victim impact statement, Cann followed the joint recommendation.
McGuigan will serve the sentence in two blocks of 45 days with a few days in between them.
He will also be on probation for one year, which includes a condition he have no contact with the complainant.
A publication ban prevents the release of any details that could identify the complainant.
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