Jacob Hoggard, the former lead singer for the Canadian rock band Hedley, was handed a stiff five-year sentence in jail for sexual assault in an Ontario court on Thursday.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Gillian Roberts excoriated the singer in no uncertain terms during his sentencing, saying that Hoggard’s actions constituted “gratuitous” violence and degradation that came “at the staggering and utterly unacceptable cost of forever changing [the woman’s] life,” the CBC reported.
The former Hedley band member was found guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm in June after raping a woman in Ottawa in 2016.
The crime was so egregious that prosecutors were seeking six to seven years in prison, a sentence far above the normal request for a crime committed by someone with no previous criminal record.
While not going quite to six years, Judge Roberts essentially agreed with the prosecution that a stiffer sentence was warranted, and she blasted the singer for his horrific actions.
“It is no exaggeration to say that [the woman] is no longer the same person she was before the attack. She was physically hurt… far more significant was the psychological hurt,” Roberts said.
“Whatever fleeting moments of gratification Mr. Hoggard derived from his conduct, they have come at the staggering and utterly unacceptable cost of forever changing [the woman’s] life,” Roberts added.
BREAKING: Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard sentenced to five years in prison https://t.co/L1VdFa16df
— CP24 (@CP24) October 20, 2022
Hoggard’s defense said that a psychological exam found that the singer was at low risk for repeating his behavior. But both the prosecution and the judge disagreed with that characterization.
“The Crown rightly points out that Mr. Hoggard was always impulsive and promiscuous, prior to and apart from his life as a rock star,” Roberts said, adding, “I agree with the Crown that we cannot say that Mr. Hoggard will never again find himself in a situation where he has a sexual opportunity, wants to validate himself, and impulse takes over.”
“It must be sufficient to reflect the inherent harmfulness of a manipulative and particularly degrading rape,” the judge said of the reasoning for the sentence. “In all the circumstances of this offense and this offender I believe a fit and appropriate sentence is five years.”
Hoggard was also accused of sexually assaulting a teenage fan, but was found not guilty in that case.
The rocker was accused of severely degrading the woman from Ottawa, who was in her early 20s during the assault. She said she was invited to the rock star’s hotel room, only to be kept there for hours while Hoggard abused her, raping her over and over again. She also said he beat her and treated her like an animal.
“I was never the same after that day,” she said in court. “A part of me died that day that I will never get back.”
Hoggard is appealing the sentence.
The Hedley frontman is not the only singer to face justice this year. Rapper Kidd Creole was found guilty of a 2017 murder in April of this year. He was later sentenced to 16 years in prison.
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