Curtis Sagmoen sentenced to five months of time served for attack on sex worker north of Vernon, B.C.

A B.C. man convicted of running into a sex-trade worker with an all-terrain vehicle on a farm located north of Vernon, B.C., will serve one day in jail and probation after his time already served in custody has been considered.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge handed 40-year-old Curtis Sagmoen a five-month jail sentence on Friday along with a three-year term of probation for assault causing bodily harm.

Justice Gary Weatherill also imposed more than a dozen conditions on Sagmoen's probation including a 10-year firearm ban and that he have no contact with sex-trade workers, while limits were placed on his use of communication devices and the internet.

The Shuswap area resident was convicted of assault causing bodily harm in February during a two-day trial in Vernon.

The court heard he ran into a woman while driving an ATV on Aug. 10, 2017, flipping her into the air on a rural property located between Vernon and Salmon Arm, B.C.

Victim struggles with anxiety and fear

The woman, whose name is under a publication ban, broke her tail bone, suffered a concussion and had several other injuries.

Weatherill said the pain from the woman's injuries continues to this day.

"She struggles with anxiety and fear. She has difficulty trusting people. She constantly looks over her shoulder," the judge said.

The woman testified at the trial that she was going to Sagmoen's property on Salmon River Road that day on a quote of services. She said Sagmoen met her on the property and asked that she follow him. Her vehicle got stuck in some sand and he took her on the ATV.

But when he didn't pay her and they weren't at the man's home, she began walking and heard the ATV coming from behind her at a fast speed, court heard.

"I thought he was just going to be a jerk and kick up some dust and I had moved to the edge to let him get by. Instead of going by me he hit me square from behind trying to hit me off the mountain. He hit me so hard I flipped over and luckily I didn't lose consciousness," she testified.

Ongoing trauma

In a victim impact statement read to the court on Friday, the woman said the assault causes her ongoing physical and emotional trauma.

Sagmoen's lawyer, Lisa Helps, told the court her client had a long-standing drug problem at the time and that he had another confrontation involving a different sex-trade worker 17 days prior at the same site.

"He was someone who was not acting in their right head,'" said Helps.

The court heard he was addicted to methamphetamine.

He is "drug free" after completing a program while in custody, Helps told the court.

The judge noted Sagmoen has expressed remorse for the crime.

"He acknowledges through his counsel that his actions were at the very least reckless with a disregard for [the woman's] safety. He feels terrible about her injuries and has expressed his understanding that it could have been a great deal more serious," said Weatherill.

A search of Sagmoen's family's Shuswap-area farm in 2017 uncovered the remains of 18-year-old Traci Genereaux. Police have said her death was suspicious, but the cause of death hasn't been released.

No charges have been laid in the Genereaux case and police haven't named a suspect.

A spokesman for the B.C. Prosecution Service says there are no outstanding cases against Sagmoen.

In a separate trial last year, Sagmoen was found guilty of three charges in offences involving a sex worker.

He was sentenced to time served and three years' probation for disguising his face with intent to commit an offence, using a firearm while committing an indictable offence and possession of methamphetamine.

The judge in that case ordered Sagmoen take anger management programs.