Edwin Woolhether, who was found guilty in May of sexually assaulting a child in 2007, has been given a two-year conditional sentence to be served in the community.

Woolhether was arrested in April 2023 and was found guilty of one count of sexual assault on May 16.

He was also found not guilty of one count of sexual interference as part of the case.

Judge Darin Chow handed down the sentence on Friday at the Court of King’s Bench.

The conditional sentence includes more than 20 provisions Woolhether must follow over the next two years. Including 24-hour house arrest at an approved address unless approved by a supervisor, being banned from contacting the victim and their family, prohibited from talking to youth under 16 years old and staying more than 50 meters away from the victim or any public space a youth under 16 years old may be.

Woolhether must also serve 250 hours in the community during his sentence.

When the sentence is complete, he will be banned from owning or possessing any guns or prohibited weapons for 10 years, as well as remain on a sexual offender registry for 20 years.

As part of sentencing submissions in November, Woolhether’s defence lawyer, Jared Aumiller, argued for the conditional sentence to be served in the community for two years less a day.

Aumiller called the sentence, ‘just.’

“It is a sentence which sees him at home, out of the community under strict supervision,” the defense told reporters following the decision. “And then there’s a long custodial order as well.”

Woolhether is nearly 70 years old and did not have a previous criminal record.

“It’s not that he’s coming out of the courthouse a free man. There’s restrictions on his liberty for quite possibly the rest of his life,” Aumiller added.

Crown Prosecutor Chris White called for a minimum of two years in jail.

“We always would prefer to see harsher penalties,” he said. “It’s important the courts step in to protect the most vulnerable people in our society when they’ve been victimized, those being children.’

“The facts found were something less again than we had hoped they would be. Still, a sexual offense against a child for which he took absolutely no responsibility,” White added.

In a previous case, Woolhether faced three counts related to the sexual assault of a minor, but all three of those charges were stayed in court.

That investigation led to police receiving information about a sexual assault of a child in 2007 and filing an additional charge of sexually assaulting a child.