Edmonton rapist sentenced to life for attack on woman

Edmonton rapist imprisoned for life
Ryan Cormier, edmontonjournal.com
Published: Friday, March 13, 2009

EDMONTON - An angry and infatuated addict who raped and slashed his neighbour in a vicious attack that lasted more than two hours has been sentenced to life in prison.

Ryan Huppie, 24, appeared resigned to his fate and showed little reaction as the sentence was read in court Friday. His lawyer and Crown prosecutors had submitted the life sentence jointly, after early attempts to have Huppie labelled a dangerous offender were abandoned.

His victim, who cannot be named, read her victim impact statement to the court before sentence was passed.

"Where does one begin to describe the impact of a rape and attempted murder by a total stranger in your own home?" she asked the court. "It has been five years since the night I awoke to a stranger in my bedroom, but to me and my loved ones, the horror is constantly hiding in the shadows of our souls."

Huppie was previously convicted of aggravated sexual assault, attempted murder, unlawful confinement, break and enter with intent to commit sexual assault and sexual assault with a weapon in connection with a drug-fuelled attack on Feb. 17, 2004.

Before he was sentenced, Huppie stood and read a letter to the court.

"I'm sorry, deeply sorry for my wrongdoing," he began. "I don't understand what made me snap out of character and out of mind. I hope people can see where my heart is and how sorry I am about this."

Huppie repeatedly asked for forgiveness and said he has changed a lot from the 21-year-old addict with a infatuation with his neighbour.

The night of the attack, he had been drinking heavily and ingested a plethora of drugs. Days earlier, he had slipped a Valentine's Day note under his victim's door.

He boasted to his buddy that he could break into the condominium next door and force himself on the woman. Huppie bet his friend $500 he would rape her. As a joke, the friend agreed.
As everyone slept, Huppie took a kitchen knife and a meat cleaver and jumped between the balconies.

He woke up his victim and told her: "I'm here to rape you and I'm here to kill you."

The woman suffered nine stab wounds to the back of her head, a gash from her eyebrow to her cheekbone and another from ear to chin. She was sliced across the throat with a meat cleaver, and across the shoulder, and had multiple cuts to both hands. Two of her fingers were severed and multiple operations have left with only 50 per cent use of her left hand.

Twice, Huppie left her for dead only to come back and continue his attack.

She insisted on giving a statement in the ambulance, unsure she would live long enough to provide it later.

"The physical scarring is deep and visible for the world to see, and each day when I look in the mirror to get ready to face the world, the face that looks back at me relives the experience," the woman told court.

She also spoke of the fear, grief, anger and humiliation she has felt since the attack. She said she is hyper-sensitive to any violence and fears being alone, even if it is to go for a short run. She and her parents spoke of the important loss of sports from her life.

"I woke up screaming in the middle of the night on a regular basis," she said.

Through the horrors she related in her statement, observers were impressed with her strength.

"You have shown an incredible courage both at the time of these events and the long time of these proceedings," Justice Terry Clackson told her. "This world is a much better place with you in it. For my part, I am glad you are still here."

Outside court, Crown Prosecutor Rob Beck said the public should not think Huppie got off easy because he was not labelled a dangerous offender. "Mr. Huppie, as the court noted, will be subject to supervision by the parole board until his death, for the rest of his life."

Beck said while Huppie is eligible to apply for parole in 10 years, he won't necessarily get it.
The unusual length of the trial also played a factor in not pursuing a long dangerous offender hearing, Beck said.

"The victim was consulted, we discussed our decision with her and she was completely on side with the decision," he said. "She asked us to pass on that both her and her family are pleased with the outcome."

After sentencing, the victim smiled and threw her arms around her mother.

Beck told court that there were many aggravating factors to Huppie's crime, but little to mitigate it, a claim that the defense did not argue. Beck said the length of the trial could be attributed to Huppie's mental health issues, and the fact he went through four lawyers in five years.

Both the victim's mother and father read victim impact statements. While they focussed on the trauma and changes in their daughter, they also expressed personal anguish of how close they came to losing her.

"Her death would have been the worst possible nightmare for us," her father said. "And it was so close. She is with us today only because her attacker was inept with his weapons, not from lack of trying to kill her on his part."

Huppie also received a lifetime weapons ban and must submit a sample of his DNA.