A longtime Lower Mainland youth coach who was found guilty of surreptitiously taking photos of two of his players in their boxers will not spend another day in jail unless he breaches the terms of his probation.
Randy Downes, 62, was handed a suspended sentence and six months of probation in New Westminster Monday, after being convicted of two counts of voyeurism in June.
The convictions are connected to photos taken in 2013 and 2015 of boys aged 12 and 13.
Downes’ lawyer, Glen Orris, had argued the judge could have gone as far as handing him a conditional discharge because of unusual circumstances in the case, including misconduct by the Coquitlam RCMP, intense media scrutiny and the particularly difficult time Downes had had in pretrial custody.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Heather MacNaughton agreed a discharge would have been in Downes’ best interest as it would have allowed him to rebuild his coaching career.
She said she also agreed Downes wouldn’t have needed a criminal record to deter him from future offences or to rehabilitate him.
But she ultimately ruled a discharge was not in the public interest under the circumstances.
“I have come to this conclusion in particular because the victims were under the age of 18 and Mr. Downes was in a position of trust towards them,” she said.
Under the conditions of his probation, Downes is banned from contacting either of his victims, being in the presence of any boys under 17 years old in places, like locker rooms or change rooms, where they’d have a reasonable expectation of privacy and taking pictures of any boy under the age of 17 without written consent from parents.
MacNaughton also ordered an iMac and Macbook Pro owned by Downes to be scrubbed of the 38 images at the centre of the trial before being returned to him.
