In Calgary court: Mantha denied bid for multiple trials, convicted sex offender Heerema granted day parole
Posted Jan 19, 2024 9:11 am.
Last Updated Jan 20, 2024 7:55 am.
Two high-profile Calgary sexual assault cases were before the courts Friday.
Justice Judith Shrier ruled in a Calgary court room that 59-year-old Richard Robert Mantha will have one trial encompassing all complaints, not seven as requested.
Mantha is accused of numerous charges, including kidnapping and sexually assaulting several women at a property near Chestermere.
One of seven women who have accused him of sexual assault says she was trying to leave the sex trade when he approached her on the street and offered her construction work.
Read more: French-language trial to be held in Calgary not ‘particularly common’ in Alberta
The woman, who can’t be identified because of a publication ban, testified she got in the man’s car and went with him to a rural property, where she says he attacked her.
He has been in custody since his arrest in April, and was denied bail last summer.
His French-language trial was set to begin Monday, but his lawyer asked for the case to be split into seven different trials.
Convicted Young Canadians sex offender granted day parole
Convicted sex offender Philip Heerema was also in court Friday morning for a parole hearing, where he was granted day parole.
He admitted to using his position with the Young Canadians School of Performing Arts to lure and groom six boys into sexual relationships from 1992 to 2013.
In 2018, he pleaded guilty to several charges, including sexual assault, luring, and making child pornography.
Heerema was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In July, lawyers for the Calgary Stampede announced they had reached a partial settlement with Heerema’s victims in a class-action lawsuit dealing with sexual abuse.
At the parole hearing in a B.C. prison, he was described as having excellent institutional behaviour and being a moderate risk to reoffend.
Heerema said he has support from his church and his family. He intends to return to a halfway house in Calgary as a next step.
The two-member parole board panel said allowing Heerema to return to a halfway house in Calgary isn’t a decision it takes lightly, but he will be supervised.
“The board is ever mindful of the nature and gravity of the offence you committed and the significance of the harm you caused,” the panel said in its decision.
“You demonstrated a capacity to engage in extensive grooming and did so while in a position of trust to the extent that you have caused lifelong significant, and likely unprecedented, harm.”
Read more: ‘A good first step’: Partial settlement approved in Calgary Stampede abuse lawsuit
Heerema, who broke down in tears Friday before the decision, said words can’t express his remorse and he realizes that he destroyed people’s lives.
“I don’t know that there’s ever enough words to say I’m sorry … for ruining lives,” he said.
“All I did was destroy. And I’ve carried that every day, and I know they do.”
Heerema said he was self-centred, selfish and ashamed of being bisexual. He said he knew he could control and manipulate boys into keeping the abuse secret.
The parole board asked him if there are more victims.
“I believe there probably are more victims,” Heerema said. After prodding from a panel member, he added: “I know that there are.”
Heerema said if more victims come forward, he will take responsibility. “I would go to court immediately and make amends for what I have done.”
The performance school works with students between 11 and 18, and their training in music and dance culminates with grandstand shows during the Stampede every July.
A judge approved last year a partial settlement in a class-action lawsuit, with three dozen plaintiffs, against the Stampede.
The Stampede apologized and said in settling the suit it takes responsibility in the hopes of helping victims heal.
