A Sudbury man convicted of human trafficking will once again have to wait to be sentenced in provincial court.
Paul Castonguay was convicted of eight charges on March 18, including trafficking a person under 18, as well as receiving a financial or other material benefits – derived directly or indirectly from the trafficking of a person; material benefit from sexual services; assault causing bodily harm: chokes, suffocates or strangles; two counts of assault; possession of property obtained by crime (under $5,000) and breach of undertaking.
Castonguay was in court with his lawyer, Denis Michel, on July 4, appearing before Justice Pierre Bradley and assistant Crown attorney, Mathieu Ansell, when the matter was adjourned due to an unwritten Gladue report.
Previously, when Castonguay appeared before the court for his first sentencing hearing on May 8, the matter was adjourned due to a lack of Gladue report.
Created as a pre‑sentencing document for the judge to consider in the cases of Indigenous offenders, the report includes historical factors, socio-economic and political issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, unemployment and the loss of cultural identity.
On July 4, Michel told the court that the Gladue report writer had been on leave for five weeks and hadn’t completed the document. “We got confirmation from him that he'll start or do it all at the end of July or early August.”
Michel asked for an adjournment to July 18, at which point a new date for sentencing would be set. Bradley agreed, and the matter was put over.
Castonguay was arrested in May 2021 and his trial began in earnest in late 2023.
During the trial, the Crown called three witnesses and entered several exhibits. On Jan. 3, the court heard from the complainant, as well as Det-Cst. Stephen Bradley, the lead investigator on the case. Another Crown witness testified Feb. 26. There is a publication ban on testimony from the victim in the case, as well as their identity.
In his decision to convict, Bradley said he accepted the complainant was a believable witness and accepted her evidence, adding that the witness testimony was simple and clear, that she acknowledged flaws in her evidence and showed a willingness to answer questions in a forthright manner.
On that basis, Bradley found that all elements of the offenses Castonguay was charged with were met.
Castonguay will next appear in assignment court on July 18 to set a date for sentencing.
Jenny Lamothe covers court for Sudbury.com