A man convicted in a violent sexual attack on a Vancouver senior was in court on Tuesday to determine if he should be deemed a dangerous offender and jailed indefinitely.
Gordon James Joseph Leclerc, 75, was originally charged with aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon – a cane – between Sept. 7 and Sept. 9, 2021.
He was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault on March 18, 2025.
Court heard that Leclerc and the then-76-year-old victim met across from Waterfront Station in Vancouver on Sept. 7 and took a cab together over the Burrard Bridge.
The woman, who uses a motorized wheelchair, was missing from her downtown care home for almost two days.
When she returned with significant bruising and discolouration on her face on the morning of Sept. 9, Vancouver police said staff at the facility called them.
Leclerc’s criminal history dates back to a June 1980 indecent assault.
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The court heard that in October 1982 Leclerc began his first federal sentence for indecent assaults on a random 12-year-old boy in Enderby and a 15-year-old boy in Vernon, plus the rape of a woman.
He was released on mandatory supervision in 1986.
While on parole, he committed new offences against three boys ages nine to 10 in Mission.
After pleading guilty to sexual assault and sexual interference, Leclerc served a second federal sentence of seven years.
He began his third federal sentence of 21-and-a-half years in 1997 for three new sexual offences in Alberta, one involving a seven-year-old boy, plus a historical assault and forcible confinement.
In December 2018, Leclerc received a one-time statutory release to Belkin House in Vancouver, but a year later he committed new offences, including sexual assault.
In court on Tuesday, the Crown asked clinical psychologist Dr. Lindsey Jack if Leclerc’s age might deter him from being a risk in the future.
“He didn’t desist when he was 71,” Jack said, adding that just because someone is getting old, it does not mean there is a certain point when they could be deemed safe.
The hearing resumes on Thursday.
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Source: globalnews.ca
