Warning: Graphic content A 70-year-old sex offender who spent years abusing a teenager with a mental disability has died in a federal prison in B.C.’s Fraser Valley. Regis Patrick Palmer died in custody at Mountain Institution in Agassiz on Oct. 2, the Correctional Service of Canada said in a news release Tuesday. At the time of his death, Palmer was serving a sentence of nine years and 11 months that began on July 6, 2023, the CSC said. The federal agency did not elaborate on the convictions that led to the sentence, nor did it say how Palmer died, though it did say his death was the result of “apparent natural causes.” A sentencing decision issued on the date Palmer’s sentence began and accessible online provides additional context to his crimes. A ‘protracted’ trial According to the document, Palmer’s offences occurred over a six-year period beginning in 2009, when he became friends with the father of his victim. The victim—referred to in the document by the initials C.W. due to a publication ban—is described in the decision as “a person with a mental disability who suffers from developmental delays.” He was 12 or 13 years old and in government care when he first met Palmer. Over the next several years, Palmer sexually assaulted C.W. “on many occasions,” according to the sentencing decision. The assaults often happened on weekends when both C.W. and Palmer were sleeping over at C.W.’s father’s house. “C.W. protested against these sexual assaults many times, but Mr. Palmer nevertheless persisted, reassuring C.W. that what they were doing felt good and was OK,” the decision reads. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri A. Donegan, who has since been appointed to the B.C. Court of Appeal, convicted Palmer of sexual assault, possessing child pornography, and making child pornography after what she describes in her decision as a “protracted trial.” The federal government has since amended the Criminal Code to rename the “child pornography” offences as possessing and making “child sexual abuse and exploitation material.” According to the decision, Palmer maintained throughout the trial and during sentencing that he did not commit the offences. ‘Manipulative, deceitful’ conduct Donegan settled on a 10-year sentence after considering a variety of mitigating and aggravating factors. On the mitigating side was Palmer’s assessed low risk to reoffend, his compliance with release conditions while awaiting trial, and the fact that C.W. did not have to testify during the trial. Palmer also had no criminal record, though the judge found this factor to be only mildly mitigating because of the nature and duration of the offences. “In these circumstances, where Mr. Palmer’s manipulative, deceitful, and sexually violent criminal activity persisted often, and over a long time, the significance of his having no prior criminal record is diminished, but it cannot and should not be ignored completely,” Donegan’s decision reads. On the aggravating side, the judge considered the duration and frequency of the abuse, the vulnerability of the victim, Palmer’s abuse of his position of trust in C.W.’s life, his “grooming” behaviour and psychological abuse of the victim, and more. The 10-year sentence included eight years for sexual assault, two years for possessing child sexual abuse material and one year for making it, with the two shorter sentences served concurrently and the assault sentence served consecutively. After credit for 27 days spent in pre-sentence custody, the final sentence was nine years and 11 months. According to the CSC, Palmer’s next of kin have been notified of his death. “As in all cases involving the death of an inmate, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) will review the circumstances,” the agency said in its statement. “CSC policy requires that the police and the coroner be notified.”
