Ontario Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst has rejected prosecutors’ bid to have a repeat child sex offender declared a dangerous offender, despite convictions involving young children in Canada and the United States.

Instead, Fuerst sentenced Michael Ferguson to 16 years in prison and designated him a long-term offender, imposing a further 10 years of community supervision after his prison sentence.

According to reporting by Peter Robinson, Ferguson pleaded guilty to four sexual assaults involving children as young as one and two child pornography offences. The Canadian offences occurred primarily in Simcoe County, with some occurring in a Toronto suburb. His victims’ identities are protected by a publication ban.

Ferguson previously fled the United States after learning authorities wanted him. He eventually returned, was arrested and pleaded guilty to raping a child. He received a 15-year sentence, mostly suspended, served approximately four years and was deported to Canada in 2021.

A repeat child sex offender who changed his name before abusing another boy has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by Manitoba provincial court Judge Kael McKenzie.

According to the Winnipeg Free Press, Ryan Knight pleaded guilty to sexual interference and making child sexual abuse material.

Born Ryan Gabourie, he received seven years in prison in 2005 for molesting five boys. He legally changed his name in 2021.

The latest victim’s father hired Knight for renovations in 2024 after an online search failed to uncover his convictions. Knight subsequently repeatedly sexually abused his 13-year-old son.

Federal Court Justice Lobat Sadrehashemi has overturned a study permit refusal and a misrepresentation finding carrying five years of immigration inadmissibility, ruling that federal officials denied the applicant a fair opportunity to answer their concerns.

In the October 5 decision, Said v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), the judge ordered a different decision-maker to reconsider Said Masoud Said’s application.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada suspected Said had used an undeclared representative to prepare his application. Said denied that allegation, explaining that an acquaintance of a family friend had helped pay the application fee because he lacked access to a credit card. He maintained he completed the application himself.

Officials relied on the same credit card appearing on several unrelated applications as an indicator of an undeclared representative. However, their procedural fairness letter never told Said that this was the basis of their concern.

An 88-year-old former Saskatoon music teacher will serve his sentence in the community after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting an eight-year-old boy during private organ lessons.

Justice Richard Danyliuk accepted a joint recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers for Raymond Eldon McHargue to receive two years less a day under a conditional sentence, followed by three years of probation. The sentencing took place in Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench on September 29. 

According to CTV News, McHargue must remain at an approved residence around the clock for the first six months unless permitted to leave. For the remainder of his conditional sentence, he faces a nightly curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., CJME reported. He must also register as a sex offender for life.

The Northwest Territories Court of Appeal has upheld a community-based sentence for a man who pleaded guilty to making child pornography, the term used in the Criminal Code, after photographing a sleeping teenage girl in a sexualized state.

John Henry Dillon admitted that he took the photographs when he was 19 and the victim was 17. According to the original sentencing decision, the images indicated that the victim had been touched and that some of her clothing had been removed.

The Crown withdrew separate charges of sexual assault and voyeurism by electronic means after Dillon entered his guilty plea.

N.W.T. Territorial Court Judge Robert Gorin described Dillon’s conduct as a serious betrayal of a vulnerable victim. Her impact statement said the offence resurfaced earlier trauma and left her experiencing anxiety and nightmares.

Nevertheless, Gorin imposed a conditional sentence of two years less one day, allowing Dillon to serve the sentence in the community.

A British Columbia man who killed his former girlfriend’s mother, bound her body and buried it in a forest will spend two years in prison after court delays and weaknesses in the Crown’s case helped produce a sentence below the usual manslaughter range.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice David M. Layton accepted a joint sentencing submission for Carson Saul MacKay, 33, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the November 2022 death of 57-year-old Jodine Millar.

MacKay was initially charged with second-degree murder.