An elderly Dartmouth man battling cancer shuffled to the front of the courtroom Wednesday to be sentenced on a charge of exposing his genitals to a child for a sexual purpose.
Eric John Meredith, 81, was found guilty in January following a trial in Dartmouth provincial court.
Judge Alanna Murphy imposed a sentence of 90 days in jail, to be served on weekends, and two years’ probation.
The judge also compelled Meredith to provide a DNA sample for a national databank and granted two orders, each for 10 years, requiring him to register as a sex offender and stay away from parks, playgrounds, schools, community centres and other places frequented by children.
Crown attorney Colleen Hepburn had recommended eight months in jail for Meredith, who was convicted in 2000 of sexually assaulting two girls, and in 2005 of assaulting and threatening his domestic partner.
Defence lawyer Michelle James argued there was no need for her client’s first jail term to be longer than the legislated minimum of 90 days.
At trial, the judge accepted a woman’s evidence that she saw Meredith masturbating in the doorway of his home on the afternoon of April 29, 2017.
The woman told the court Meredith was gazing at her fouryear- old daughter, who was playing outside. She testified that the little girl had her back to Meredith and did not see him stroking his penis, which she said was not fully erect “but it was getting there.”
Meredith took the stand in his own defence. He denied he was masturbating and offered two different explanations for what the woman saw.
He said his pants fell down earlier that day when he was reaching over his head to fix a broken chain on his screen door, but there was nobody else around at that time.
The senior said he was on his way to the bathroom later in the day when he glanced out the front door and saw a woman standing in his driveway looking at him. He said he had his pants down to his knees and was holding his penis because he was “prepping” himself to urinate.
In her sentencing decision, the judge said denunciation and deterrence must be emphasizedwhen sentencing people for offences like this.“After considering all of the information that I have before me, I think the Crown’s position of an eight-month sentence may very well be an appropriate sentence for this offence in certain circumstances,” Murphy said.
“But the court has to look at not only the offencebut the offender in determining the appropriate sentence.
“Given his age (and) his poor health prospects . . . I’m satisfied that the minimum sentence adequately (addresses) the purposes of sentencing.”
While on probation, Meredith is not allowed to have contact with the mother or her children, mustremain at least 50 metres from their home and cannot be alone with anyone under the age of 16.
The judge also ordered him to take part in any counselling deemed necessary by his probation officer.
Meredith, who was in the navy for 29 years, was honoured in 1998 for saving the life of a radio producer at CBC in Halifax, where he was working as a commissionaire. He administered CPR after the woman collapsed from an asthma attack and went into cardiac arrest.
His efforts earned him a courage award from St. John Ambulance and a distinguished service medal from the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires.
