An emotional statement from a Canadian student who was harassed by a 51-year-old man described how the incident robbed her of a sense of safety. Jagjit Singh, who was in Canada on a temporary visa to visit his newborn grandchild, was jailed after being convicted of criminally harassing two teenage girls outside a high school in Sarnia, Ontario.
He will be deported after his jail sentence and banned from returning to Canada. Singh was convicted of sexual interference and sexual assault after being accused of approaching young girls and trying to take pictures with them.
During sentencing, the prosecutor read victim statements. One girl said Singh’s actions left her intimidated around older men and men of his ethnicity. “Part of what makes this so difficult is that the offender was someone who had come to Canada as a newcomer,” she wrote. “This betrayal has affected the way I see people of his culture and men who are older than me.”
The other girl said the incident affected her mental health and lifestyle and that she no longer feels safe in public. “I don’t even want to know what he was thinking or what he was doing with those pictures,” she said.
According to the prosecutor, Singh approached the girls seeking photographs and repeatedly tried to communicate with them. One girl initially refused but later relented, hoping he would leave. Singh then attempted to sit between two girls and signaled to take another photo. After another picture was taken, he put his arm around a girl, who felt uncomfortable, stood up, and pushed his hands away.
