Man sentenced for campground rape

A sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl three years ago has netted a 42-month jail term, less time already served, for Nathan Constantine McNamara.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Frank Cole issued the term Friday for a May 15, 2009 attack at Chubb Lake, about 100 kilometres south of the city.

During the trial, held over about four weeks in April, May and September last year, the court heard the girl was on a camping trip with friends when her group met up with another friend who was camping with McNamara.

The two groups spent most of the evening around a shared campfire and the girl testified she did not notice McNamara, then 24, until he asked her to accompany him to a nearby outhouse. She said McNamara seemed drunk, so she agreed to help him find his way there in the dark.

On their way back, McNamara stole a kiss and then asked if she was a virgin. When she replied "yes," he then asked her if she planned on losing it anytime soon, a statement which "creeped her out."

Later in the evening, the girl began heading back to her own campsite when McNamara grabbed her and pulled her into his tent as she walked by. She struggled in what McNamara characterized as play fighting but eventually relented and agreed to stay and talk.

However, after about 20 minutes, McNamara became physical and forced himself on her, the girl testified. A witness who was near the tent testified he heard the girl say "no, no, no" very faintly, but did not think anything of it at the time.

Friends testified the girl was uncharacteristically quiet on the drive back home the next day. And a doctor who examined her found bruises on her chest and injuries to her vaginal area usually consistent with nonconsensual sex.

Cole found McNamara guilty in December, and, in doing so, found McNamara fabricated a story "to try to convince police that the complainant was very sexually experienced so they would not lay a charge against him," and rejected the evidence of the accused.

The girl's identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

McNamara's sentence was reduced by 86 days for time already served in custody.