A man who was declared a dangerous offender after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in Prince George has been denied parole.
It was the second time in two years that a Parole Board of Canada panel had considered the case of William Garfield Garnot and like they did in 2018, they found he had not taken steps towards rehabilitation.
In 2011, he was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault for a 2001 attack near Connaught Hill Park. In 2008, a match with Garnot's DNA was discovered during a search of the national databank and the matter went to trial in late 2010.
In 2015, he was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault in 2011 and declared a dangerous offender in 2015, which meant he had to serve at least seven years behind bars before he could apply for parole. If he is released from prison, he will be under supervision for the rest of his life.
Garnot had six previous convictions for sexual offences, all involving children, and a criminal record of 56 convictions since his first one in 1973, when he was prosecuted as an adult at age 15.
In the most-recent parole board decision, issued on November 23, a panel found Garfield has not been engaged in his correctional plan, has not provided a release plan and has not been accepted into a halfway house.
Both full parole and day parole were denied. The panel also found that continued incarceration is not disproportionate, noting that programming and other appropriate resources are available at the medium security institution where he is serving his sentencing.
"You also have the opportunity to earn reclassification to minimum security and to apply for temporary absences," the panel added.
