Regina man gets five years in prison for sexually assaulting 12-year-old girl

A Regina man has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a girl who was 12 years old at the time.

On July 28, Christopher Duke was found guilty in Court of King’s Bench on one count of sexually assaulting the girl on July 31, 2019. He had pleaded not guilty when his trial started.

The Crown and defence made sentencing recommendations on Oct. 17 of this year and Justice Graeme Mitchell delivered his decision Monday.

The Crown had sought a six-year sentence, while the defence had asked for a sentence of between three and four years in prison.

Duke was 49 years old when he was arrested on Aug. 1, 2019 and charged with sexually assaulting the girl, whom he knew.

During the trial, Duke denied all of the accusations against him, but Mitchell said in his written decision that Duke’s denial “lacked credibility.”

According to court documents, Duke also was ordered to provide a DNA sample and will be in the sex offender registry for 20 years.