CORNER BROOK Jonathan Kelly, the man convicted of trying to rob a 16-year-old girl on the Corner Brook Stream Trail last July, has been given three years in prison.
The crime that took place on the popular trail in the middle of a beautiful sunny afternoon rocked the community and created great concern until an arrest was made in November.
Police investigators linked DNA evidence taken from the scene of the attack to Kelly, who left the trail area without taking any items from the girl when bystanders responded to her cries for help.
Kelly, 29, pleaded guilty to robbery and breaching his probation in relation to the attack that Judge Wayne Gorman said has had “a significant and ongoing impact” on the teenage victim.
The sentence handed down by Gorman in provincial court in Corner Brook on Wednesday afternoon also takes into account Kelly’s guilty pleas to unrelated shoplifting and breach of probation charges from last April.
Crown attorney Trina Simms had asked for between 30 and 36 months in total for the convictions. Defence lawyer Peter Chaffey had requested Kelly be imprisoned for between 15 and 17 months.
The three years includes the 78 days Kelly has already served in custody prior to Wednesday’s sentencing decision.
