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The majority of Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has agreed that a 14-month jail sentence for a Swift Current man who repeatedly had sex with a 15-year-old girl was “demonstrably unfit.”
Zachery Fehr was convicted in 2024 of sexual interference and sentenced to 14 months in jail, followed by three years of probation.
Court was told that he’d met the girl through work in spring 2023 and contacted her using Snapchat — he was 22 at the time, and she was 15.
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Over the course of a week, she went to his apartment and engaged in sexual activity, including intercourse, three times, including in his friend’s truck. She told court during the trial that she’d agreed to the activity, but at 15 and with a 7-year age gap, she could not legally consent.
The girl’s father became aware of what was happening the following week, which resulted in a report being made to police.
Fehr’s lawyer appealed his conviction, but the appeals court dismissed it.
The Crown appealed the sentence on a number of grounds, but the justices dismissed each one except the argument that the 14 months was a demonstrably unfit sentence; it replaced that with a sentence of two years-less-a-day instead.
The appeal decision said the fundamental principle of sentencing is that it be proportionate to the gravity of the offence. And while Fehr was assessed as being a low risk to reoffend, the gravity of the offence was high, with extremely serious circumstances.
Fehr’s level of personal responsibility was high, according to the justices, as he’d made the repeated decision to engage in unprotected sex on three separate occasions with a 15-year-old.
“Mr. Fehr has very good rehabilitative potential, but when denunciation and deterrence are the primary considerations, the gravity of the offence takes greater prominence over the personal circumstances of an offender,” read the appeal court decision.
Between his conviction and appeal, Fehr had been released into the community. He’s since turned himself in to police.
The majority opinion was signed by Justice Jerome A. Tholl and Keith D. Kilback. Justice Jillyne M. Drennan penned the dissenting opinion, disagreeing that the sentence was unfit.
