KITCHENER - A man who took part in the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl in a wooded Waterloo area was sentenced Monday to two years less a day in reformatory.

Superior Court Justice Gerry Taylor wanted to give Demar McIntosh a higher sentence because he believed McIntosh planned the attack in advance since he brought a condom. He noted McIntosh was the one who picked up the girl on his bike and brought her to the area where he and three other teens had gathered to celebrate a birthday in September 2009. They had alcohol and marijuana.

The girl knew her attackers from school and her neighbourhood and accepted an invitation to the birthday party. She was plied with booze.

Once she was drunk, the teens took turns having oral sex and intercourse with her over three hours, court heard.

McIntosh, who was then 19, was the only adult. Two others were 14 and one was 16.

The judge said it was hard not to conclude that McIntosh delivered the girl to the younger males as "a present.''

"I'm troubled by this, Mr. Russell,'' he said to prosecutor David Russell who proposed the sentence jointly with McIntosh's lawyer. "It appears to me to be an exceedingly low sentence.''

But he ultimately went along with it after Russell outlined other cases in which men received similar sentences for crimes that were similar or worse. And McIntosh was a youthful offender with no criminal record, Russell added.

McIntosh's lawyer, Sean Robichaud, said the judge could only reject a sentence proposed jointly by the Crown and defence if he found it brought the administration of justice into disrepute or was contrary to the public interest.

Robichaud noted the party was supposed to be held at another youth's home. When plans changed at the last minute, the teens broke up, then met later at a school and decided to walk down a trail to a bush area.

"It did not appear that any explicit luring took place,'' the lawyer said.

The victim knew McIntosh, who has "developmental problems'' and is of low intelligence, his lawyer said. Because of this, he would always hang around with younger people, such as the three other teens. McIntosh was no more sophisticated than they were, Robichaud said.

McIntosh initially pleaded not guilty in April to sexual assault, touching for a sexual purpose and being a party to a sexual assault.

But he reversed his plea several hours into the trial after his videotaped police statement was played in court.

In the statement, he admitted having intercourse with the girl after the other three had taken turns. The issue at his trial was going to be whether he believed it was consensual and whether he took reasonable steps to learn the girl's age.

McIntosh told police he refused to have anything to do with the rape at first and urged the others to stop. But near the end of the evening, he agreed to take a turn with the girl after he was drunk, he said.

He pleaded guilty to sexual assault and the other two charges were dropped.

Two of the youths have received youth court sentences of nine months - six months in open custody and three months under community supervision. The third moved to another province and was never charged.

The girl did not prepare a victim-impact statement. Russell said she initially suffered humiliation and degradation after rumours started going around her school that she'd had sex with four teens and was a "slut.''

Many people blamed her for reporting the gang-rape after a youth worker at school heard about it and called police, Russell said. She got "their friends in trouble,'' he said.

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She was forced to leave a school she liked, and ultimately left the province.