Pubdate: Sun, 23 Apr 2006
Source: Langley Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 BC Newspaper Group and New Media Development
Contact:  http://www.langleytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1230
Author: Natasha Jones
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

DRUGS MADE ME DO IT -- ABROSIMO

Brian Edward Abrosimo was high on methamphetamine, which fuelled his  
sex drive, when he scooped an 11-year-old girl off an isolated  
Aldergrove road and drove her to Surrey where he sexually assaulted  
her, a B.C. provincial court judge heard on Friday morning.

Judge Suzanne McGregor, who is presiding over the sentencing hearing  
for Abrosimo, heard that Abrosimo blames this and his string of other  
violent crimes on alcohol and drug use.

The Surrey man pleaded guilty last year to kidnapping and sexually  
assaulting the young girl, and assaulting her 15-year-old friend with  
a weapon.

The weapon was Abrosimo's van, which he used to knock the girls off  
their bicycles on the afternoon of Aug. 12, 2004.

Last July, McGregor ordered a psychiatric assessment to help her  
decide how long the violent sexual predator should spend in jail.

Crown prosecutor Chantal Goodmanson told reporters during the morning  
break that she is not seeking a dangerous offender designation for  
Abrosimo, which would allow the judge to impose an indefinite jail term.

The Crown is seeking a lengthy determinate sentence and long-term  
offender designation which could add up to 10 years mandatory  
supervision after the end of the jail sentence, Goodmanson said.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Zoffmann spent Friday on the  
stand giving expert opinion on recividism, risk assessment, and the  
treatment of sexual offenders and violent offenders.

The court heard that the two girls, Abrosimo's former wife, and a  
prostitute whom he sexually assaulted six weeks before the  
kidnapping, have all been psychologically damaged by Abrosimo's attacks.

Zoffmann concluded from her five-hour interview with Abrosimo last  
autumn that he blames the use of alcohol and drugs on his crimes,  
which include the unlawful confinement of the prostitute, theft and  
impaired driving.

On the day of the Aldergrove kidnapping and sex attack, he was high  
on methamphetamine, and, Zoffmann said, it is "fairly typical" to see  
meth users experience an increase in their sex drive from using the  
drug.

Abrosimo appears to be sorry for what he did, Zoffmann said.

"He is a person who appears to be very sorry for what he had done,  
and ashamed," she said.

Sometimes remorse is short-lived or shallow, but the signs were  
present in his face several times during her interview with him, she  
added.

Many, if not all, of his prior convictions, which include theft for  
the mugging of an elderly woman and possession of a firearm for a  
purpose dangerous to the public peace, occurred when Abrosimo was  
impaired by drugs or alcohol, the court heard.

Most people who resort to these do so for the increased energy,  
heightened sex drive and quick-thinking that they give, Zoffmann said.

Reading from Zoffmann's assessment report, Goodmanson noted that  
Abrosimo began drinking alcohol in his later teens, started smoking  
marijuana at age 19, and at one point during the 1990s was combining  
cocaine with methamphetamine.

A heavy-set man, Abrosimo, 42, sat with his shoulders hunched during  
the procedings, glancing from time to time at the gallery where his  
mother sat in the front row. He will be back in court Monday for the  
continuation of the hearing, which is expected to wrap up on Tuesday  
afternoon.
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