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Peggy Lemay walked out of court a free woman yesterday after admitting she allowed a 14-year-old runaway to work as a prostitute in her home.
Judge Robert Dewar accepted "with some reluctance" a plea bargain that saw Lemay (formerly Melquist) sentenced to the double-time equivalent of six months time served.
Lemay, 52, pleaded guilty Monday to one count each of living off the avails of prostitution and keeping a common bawdy house.
Crown attorney Mark Kantor agreed to recommend the lenient sentence following the death of the then 17-year-old victim last summer.
Had the case gone to trial, the victim's prior testimony at a preliminary hearing might have been ruled inadmissible, Dewar said. And without a victim witness, the Crown would have had a difficult time rebutting any defence evidence.
"The choice for the Crown was to put in a case which had a reasonable prospect of failure or take a conviction that can be used at least in part to control the accused's conduct in the future but which appears somewhat light in terms of severity," Dewar said. "Sometimes it's better for the Crown to take what it can get rather than come away with nothing."
The victim, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, was addicted to crack and working as a street prostitute when she met Lemay and started bringing johns to her Elgin Street home.
In a statement to police, the girl said she split her earnings with Lemay and often slept overnight in her home.
The girl was found dead west of the city last summer. An autopsy could not confirm the cause of death.
Sources say she was also victimized by a Vietnamese sex-for-drugs ring. Four men received sentences ranging from two years to five years in prison.
The girl's mother lashed out at Lemay in court.
"What she did to my daughter is f------ low and I hope to God they give you the maximum time, which is what you deserve," the woman said.
"I read in the paper that you're a mother. You're not a damn mother. My daughter was very well loved. She had her problems, yes, but ... she wasn't just somebody that (Lemay) or anybody else could take advantage of."
Defence lawyer Gerri Wiebe told court Monday Lemay's life fell apart in 2003 after she separated from her husband to care for her adult daughter, who herself was addicted to crack and working as a prostitute.
"Instead of helping her daughter, it went the other way around and she degenerated into the lifestyle her daughter had become accustomed to," Wiebe said.
dean.pritchard@sunmedia.ca