By Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A B.C. Supreme Court judge in Smithers sentenced a Lake Babine Nation hereditary chief on Monday, Dec. 16 to two years less a day — including 18 months house arrest — for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in Burns Lake. Justice John Harvey noted that Ronnie Mathew West, 64, had pleaded guilty on the first day of his scheduled trial in November 2023, three years after the crime. Harvey decided that a conditional sentence to be served in the community, plus three years probation, was “fit and proper.” In his oral verdict, Harvey said that the victim stayed overnight at West’s residence on a pullout couch after helping West build a smokehouse. Without asking, West got into bed with the girl, who resisted….
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