The judge in the case of a B.C. woman who pleaded guilty to charges of assault and sex trafficking is taking time to decide on her sentence.
Lawyers will be meeting next week to set a date for Justice Terence Schultes to sentence Jennifer Stephens after a three-day hearing in B.C. Supreme Court this week.
Crown prosecutors have proposed a 13-year sentence for the 31-year-old, while her lawyer has suggested the judge sentence her to seven years with credit for time already served.
Stephens pleaded guilty last year to multiple charges, including assault causing bodily harm, unlawful confinement, sexual assault with a weapon and several other offences related to sex trafficking of a person under 18.
The court heard that she inflicted violent beatings on her victims and boasted of a client list of 500 people that she refused to sell to other “pimps.”
The hearing included playing violent and graphic videos involving Stephens and her victims, and impact statements from her victims who said Stephens inflicted not only physical but psychological trauma that will take a lifetime to work through.