Robert Semenchuk, a former Regina police officer who pleaded guilty to breach of trust and unauthorized use of a computer, leaves the provincial court after a sentencing hearing in Regina, on Friday.Heywood Yu/The Canadian Press
More than a dozen victims of former Regina police sergeant Robert Semenchuck streamed out of the city’s courthouse on Friday morning, some in tears, others enraged and others resigned to a system they never expected to protect them.
Mr. Semenchuck, 53, was sentenced to a two-year conditional sentence in the community, with six months of house arrest, based on a joint submission from the defence and Crown.
He had pleaded guilty to one count of breach of trust and one count of unauthorized use of a computer for using police databases to contact at least 33 women and attempting to form sexual and intimate relationships with them.
“I came forward, and I’m so grateful 32 other women stood behind me. And I’m glad we’re here and I’m glad there’s some semblance of justice,” said Kerry Benjoe, a Regina journalist who filed the initial complaint against Mr. Semenchuck after uncovering his true identity.
Victims of ex-Regina officer describe feeling violated as judge weighs conditional sentence
In many cases, the women had been victims of criminal offences or were suffering mental health issues or other challenges when Mr. Semenchuck approached them under fake names and identities.
“He is exposed, he is no longer in a position of power... I did my duty. I protected other women, and that was what I set out to do.”
Ms. Benjoe had been staying in a domestic violence shelter when the veteran police officer texted her for the first time, purporting to be a contractor named Jay Robert Lewis. Her relationship with the man she now knows to be Mr. Semenchuck spanned several years.
Bridgette Cyr, who had an intimate relationship with Mr. Semenchuck while believing him to be a construction contractor named Steve, said she was very disappointed with the judge’s decision.
“I was expecting more. I think that 33 women deserve more. We were victimized, we were stalked, we were taken advantage of,” she said. “I think that it just says a whole lot to all the other police that, ‘yeah, if we do this, we’re going to get a slap on the wrist.’”
Both Ms. Benjoe and Ms. Cyr requested that their names not be covered by a publication ban.
“I didn’t think it was going to bother me at all, because we were told what was going to happen,” said Patricia Nichol, another woman who was duped into a relationship with Mr. Semenchuck. “You know, when the judge last week said what she said, I thought that she was going to change her mind. And she didn’t.”
The man behind the wrong number
Judge Marylynne Beaton had adjourned sentencing for two weeks to consider whether the joint submission was an appropriate penalty for Mr. Semenchuck, saying that the “magnitude of the offending behaviour” she heard in the 19 victim impact statements put before the court hadn’t come through in the lawyers’ agreed statement of facts about the case.
But while she denounced Mr. Semenchuck’s conduct as “illegal and immoral,” Judge Beaton ultimately accepted the joint submission as proposed.
“I cannot say that the joint submission is contrary to the public interest, keeping in mind Mr. Semenchuck’s conduct, the effect on the victims and the fundamental purpose and principles of sentencing,” she said in court on Friday.
In Canadian courts, judges are expected to accept joint submissions unless they believe the proposed sentence would be contrary to the public interest or bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
Mr. Semenchuck, who appeared in court with his father, showed no reaction throughout the proceedings.
He will face a number of conditions during his sentence and probation, including not having access to a computer. He also had to provide a DNA sample.
Outside court, Crown prosecutor Christopher Browne said the Crown pursued a sentence they believed was appropriate in the circumstances. Asked about victims wanting a more significant penalty, he said: “Victims are entitled to their opinions. They feel how they feel, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
In a news conference after court, Regina Police Service Chief Lorilee Davies spoke directly to the victims, saying that what they went through is “unimaginable, and never should have happened.”
She said the police service has instituted new measures around officers’ access to information in the wake of both Mr. Semenchuck’s case, and another recent case involving a Regina Police Service officer who improperly searched for information related to a former domestic partner. Chief Davies says the changes include random audits and additional safeguards in the police records management system.
“I think these last two cases have sent the message to our members that this is not tolerated,” she said. “Definitely not.”