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Lee Henkis, guilty of an unnatural act, sentenced to eight years in prison

HeadlineLee Henkis, guilty of an unnatural act, sentenced to eight years in prison

Henkis told the court he is no longer afraid; he has made peace with God

On Wednesday, November 21, Lee Henkis, 43, was found guilty of an unnatural act, and today, Justice Troadio Gonzalez sentenced him to eight years behind bars.

Sentencing was to have occurred on Wednesday, November 28; however, no one appeared in court to speak on Henkis’ behalf, and the judge adjourned the matter to today.

Henkis was convicted of an incident which occurred in July of 2009, in which a then 9-year-old-boy reported that Henkis had had anal sex with him on two separate occasions. According to the child’s testimony, Henkis had promised him a cell phone, and when he arrived at Henkis’ house that day, he was told that the phone was inside Henkis’ room.

When the boy entered the room, Henkis followed him inside, undressed him then undressed himself. After doing so, he proceeded to have anal sex with the child.

Today, only one person appeared to speak on Henkis’ behalf – one Gayle Banner. She told the court that she has known Henkis almost her entire life, as they grew up together. She went on to say that she will always remember the good of him, and that he was good with his hands and loved to cook. She described what Henkis was convicted of as a mistake.

But when Justice Gonzalez mentioned that he had been convicted twice before for sexual crimes, she readily agreed that it couldn’t really be described that way.

But before Banner took the stand, Henkis himself spoke on his own behalf. He told the court that when he had come to court on November 28, he was afraid. But when he appeared back today, he was no longer afraid because he had made peace with God.

Justice Troadio Gonzalez then queried the two previous convictions he had – one on May 15, 2000 for an indecent assault, to which he was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment; and the other for an unnatural act on February 1, 2002, where he was sentenced to 7 years – none of which Henkis denied.

The judge then explained that the maximum sentence for such crimes is 10 years. But because Henkis’ last conviction was more then 10 years ago, he was then sentenced to 8 years, effective November 21, 2012, because he couldn’t be sentenced to less than the previous sentence.

The Crown was represented by Thalia-Megan Francis, while Henkis was unrepresented.

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