Andy Ivens
Staff Reporter

Judge told: Jail teen's pimps

Society is revolted by the crime of child prostitution, Crown counsel Geordie Proulx told the sentencing hearing of Christopher Carroll, 27 of North Vancouver and Ruby Ann Fortney, 27, and and Jaswinder Singh Mahal, 24, both of Surrey.

And imposing stiff jail sentences is the best way to get the message of deterrence out to people who may think about plying the teenage sex trade, said Proulx.

He asked Justice Jon Sigurdson to sentence Carroll, a pizza deliverer, to two to three years in jail. A jury found him guilty of three pimping charges involving a complainant under the age of 18.

Fortney -- a mother of four who was found guilty on seven of eight charges involving the first complainant and another girl who was 13 while she worked for Fortney and her boyfriend -- should spend four to five years in jail, said Proulx.

Mahal, a roofer, should receive the stiffest sentence of the three, he said. The jury in the five-week trial found Mahal guilty of all eight charges he faced, including sexual touching the 13-year-old and forcing anal intercourse on the older girl.

Proulx noted the tender age of the younger complainant, who Mahal gave instructions on how to perform oral sex on customers.

"That was done with full knowledge of her age," said Proulx, who asked Sigurdson to sentence Mahal to seven to eight years. He argued that Mahal's sentences for the sexual assaults should run consecutively to the sentences for pimping.

Lawyers for the accused will speak when the hearing continues May 16.