Warning: This article contains details that be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
A Port Alberni man was sentenced for child luring in a Port Alberni courtroom on Thursday.
The sentence comes after an incident that was streamed live on social media in April 2018 when a man, later identified as 32-year-old Brandon Johnson, thought he was meeting with a 13-year-old girl for possible sex. He instead was beaten with a bat and hog-tied by the girl’s mother and stepfathers.
“He wanted to be her first,” said the girl’s mother in the video.
Court heard that’s when Johnson learned he had been recently communicating with the girl’s mother, posing as her daughter.
Police arrived and arrested Johnson and the girl’s mother and stepfathers for assaulting him.
Johnson ended up in hospital for a week with a collapsed lung and required two surgeries. His lawyer, Charles Beckingham, says Johnson still has problems sleeping because of his injuries.
The Crown says Johnson and the 13-year-old had started communicating on Plenty of Fish more than two months before which moved to Instagram.
He sent her naked pictures of himself and extremely graphic descriptions of sexual contact he’d like to have. Eventually, her mother caught wind and she filed the police report before the day he arrived at the house.
When given the opportunity to address the court Johnson, who has no previous criminal record, he said “I sincerely apologize for all of my actions to everyone involved, the victims, my family, the community. There is no excuse for my actions. I’m very very sorry.”
Beckingham says Johnson’s reputation in the community has been utterly destroyed.
The judge sentenced Johnson to 18 months in jail and two years of probation. He said he would’ve sentenced Johnson to two years in jail if not for the injuries he suffered.
The girl’s mother and two stepfathers pleaded guilty to assaulting Johnson. They have all completed their conditional discharges, which means they have no criminal record.
All three attended Thursday’s sentencing and say they’re satisfied with the sentence Johnson has received.
Kendall Hanson
