More than three years after he was charged with sexually assaulting two women inside his police cruiser in separate incidents, a former Toronto police sergeant has been sentenced to five months in jail for what a Scarborough judge called a “serious breach of trust.”

Christopher Heard was hugged Wednesday by his wife and comforted by a group of supporters immediately after Ontario Court Justice Philip Downes read out his sentence, which also requires the ex-officer, a 48-year-old father of three, to be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

Heard was found guilty in September of two separate but nearly identical sexual assaults inside his police cruiser in the fall of 2015. Heard has since resigned from the police service, where he had worked for 29 years, which was “a painful decision,” his lawyer Gary Clewley said.

In his sentencing decision, Downes said Heard had breached the trust of the women he assaulted. Quoting from the testimony of one of the victims — “What is the worst that can happen? He is a cop,” she told the court at trial — the judge noted the women assumed they were safe with him.

In separate victim-impact statements, the women described suffering emotional and financial blows due to the sexual assaults and prolonged court process. Both described becoming fearful of police, one saying she is afraid of retribution from other officers.

“I don’t think Sgt. Heard perceives the gravity of his actions and the cost to (the Toronto Police Service) of this broken trust,” one woman wrote.

“I lost jobs and had to give up my apartment then dropped out of college and (am) now in debt while I was trying to attend court hearings and remain level headed,” the other woman stated, adding she has been unable to gain back 15 pounds she lost due to stress.

Downes said he found the victim-impact statements useful and balanced, saying he accept both women were affected and “any sentence must properly take account of the very real impact of Mr. Heard’s conduct on these women.” He also noted that Heard had not expressed remorse for his behaviour.

But there were other factors to weigh in his decision, including what the judge said was an otherwise “exemplary” nearly-30-year career with the Toronto police; he noted it would be unfair to conclude that Heard’s actions defined him as a person. Letters of support also spoke to Heard’s otherwise good character, Downes said, including from Heard’s sons, which he found “meaningful and sincere.”

Downes said he had to take into account that, “while any sexual assault represents a gross invasion of privacy and degradation of dignity,” the sentence has to reflect the degree of the assault. Brief touching towards the groin is “unquestionably” toward the lower end of seriousness on the spectrum of sexual assault, Downes said.

“It is only fair that the sentence imposed reflect the difference between these assaults and other, more invasive misconduct,” Downes said.

The jail sentence did not come as a surprise to Heard, who earlier in the day had acknowledged, through Clewley, that he knew he must go to jail and wanted to start serving his sentence immediately.

“He doesn’t care what the season is, he wants to get on with his life,” his lawyer, Clewley said. “And the first impediment to that is the sentence he must serve. He wants to begin serving that sentence today or tomorrow,” Clewley said.

Clewly had asked Downes for a four-month jail sentence, which he noted would likely be served in segregation due to Heard’s position as a former police officer.

Crown prosecutor Peter Scrutton asked for a nine-month sentence, saying Heard’s offences represented “an egregious breach of trust” that he was only able to commit them because he was a police officer.

“It is clear from their evidence that neither (victim) would have accepted a ride from some random stranger,” Scrutton said.

“Both of them assumed they’d be safe,” he said.

Heard’s wife has attended throughout the proceedings alongside a core group of supporters. Among those attending Wednesday’s hearing was Toronto Const. Michael Theriault, who alongside his brother Christian is accused of aggravated assault and attempting to obstruct justice in the alleged assault of Whitby man Dafonte Miller.

Heard was charged after two victims came forward independently with accounts of being picked up by Heard while they were alone in Toronto’s Entertainment District. The young women — who do not know each other and whose identities are covered by a publication ban — both said Heard approached them and offered a ride home.

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It was after they were alone with him inside his police vehicle that each woman said he groped her. In both cases, Heard failed to activate his in-car camera, contrary to police procedure.

Heard had denied the allegations, agreeing that he had picked up the women but denying that he had touched them. In his ruling, Downes said he did not believe his account, concluding that the officer was not a credible witness.

Heard’s sentencing Wednesday is the latest development in a years-long saga that saw Heard charged in 2016, acquitted in 2017, then re-tried at a second trial in June after Crown prosecutors successfully appealed Heard’s acquittal, arguing trial judge Justice Russell Otter erred in his ruling.

With Star files