According to Global News, John Collyer, a former police chief of the town of Bridgewater on Nova Scotia’s south shore, has obtained a full parole for the sentence he was serving.
Collyer had previously been sentenced to sexual exploitation back in March, and was slated to serve 15 months for having interacted in a sexual manner with a minor while serving as chief of police for Bridgewater at the time.
The minor in question was 17 years old at the time, and the incident occurred in his car, according to the court ruling. The full court document can be found here. The identify of the victim is not available here, due to legal reasons.
At the time of his being charged, he was suspended from his duties as police chief.
The decision to parole Collyer after only having completed five months of his sentence was based on criteria previously established by the parole board, not on any new evidence.
Key factors were the greatly lowered risk of a repeat offence, due to Collyer having attended counselling and having stopped drinking alcohol. The parole has been granted under the conditions that Collyer not drink any alcohol, nor have any contact with the victim or her family.
The parole board said in their statement that the stress of Collyer’s position, combined with excessive drinking, contributed to his criminal actions in initiating a sexual relationship with his victim. Collyer would drink after work to calm himself, and the alcohol severely clouded his judgement.
In addition to the conditions stated above, Collyer is required to submit to urinalysis tests at random intervals, and is not to work in any position which gives him authority over any minor. Furthermore, he must stay away from females under the age of 18, unless in the presence of a responsible adult who has been approved by his parole agent, and knows of his previous conviction.
He will have to complete a year of probation after his parole ends and has provided a DNA sample, and will stay for the next 20 years on a national registry of sexual offenders.
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