A former Vancouver School Board janitor has been sentenced by a B.C. provincial court to 90 days in jail for invitation to sexual touching of a person under the age of 16.
Joel Aguirre Gumban, 45, and originally from the Philippines, pleaded guilty to the offence that he committed against a Filipino high school student.
Gumban, a father to two young children, made the guilty plea last November.
Judge Jodie Werier described Gumban in her decision dated August 2, 2017 as a “sympathetic offender” with no criminal record.
Werier recalled in her decision that on October 1, 2014, Gumban was 42 years old.
“He worked as a custodian for the Vancouver School Board, assigned to David Thompson Secondary School in Vancouver. Mr. Gumban had been working at the school for less than a week on September 30, 2014, when he approached the 14 year old male victim V.T. who, with several other students, was doing homework after class in the school cafeteria.
“Mr. Gumban approached the students and made small talk. He showed the students pictures of his family. He then asked V.T. if he was Filipino and spoke to V.T. in their shared dialect. He gave V.T. his phone number and told V.T. to call him. Mr. Gumban left the group of students, but returned later and told V.T. that he liked him and asked him where he lived.
“On October 1, 2014, V.T. and his two 15 year old friends were once again studying after class at a table in the school cafeteria. Mr. Gumban approached their table, and speaking to V.T. in their shared dialect asked V.T. why he had not called him. V.T. replied that he was busy with homework. Mr. Gumban said “don’t you want to be connected with me?” and asked V.T. if he was “scared” of him. Then Mr. Gumban showed V.T. and his friend P.A. pictures on his phone including a picture of a child who he said was his daughter. He also showed them a picture of a naked male, perhaps in his 20’s, with an erect penis. Mr. Gumban then asked them if “they knew this guy” and told them “that he had a lot of this”, and asked if they “would like to see it”. Mr. Gumban then left the table.
“ A short time later, Mr. Gumban called V.T. over to a corner of the cafeteria on the pretext of asking him for a pen. V.T. walked over to Mr. Gumban and gave him the pen. Mr. Gumban then asked V.T. if he’d had sex with anyone and V.T. replied “No”. Mr. Gumban asked V.T. “Do you want to touch my penis?” At the time that he asked this question of V.T., Mr. Gumban had his right hand on top of his own crotch. Mr. Gumban then asked V.T. “Do you want to eat it”; “Can you go to the washroom??” V.T. answered “No” to these questions. Mr. Gumban then replied “Don’t tell your friends or family” and V.T. replied “OK” and then V.T. said “Give me back my pen”.
“ V.T. returned to his friends and felt panicky, was shaking and his friends were aware that he was upset. V.T. told his friends that he needed to leave. Once they had left the school V.T. started crying and told his friends what had happened. When he got home, V.T. told his mother and then his father about the events with Mr. Gumban and the next day the incident was reported to the school,” the judge related in the decision.
The judge sentenced Gumban to a 90 day jail sentence, which he will serve intermittently.
Gumban ordered to begin his sentence on August 2, the day of the decision.
“He will then report to The North Fraser Pre Trial Services Centre located at 1451 Kingsway Ave. in Port Coquitlam, BC, at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, August 4, 2017, unless he is directed by Corrections to serve his sentence elsewhere and he shall remain in custody until Sunday, August 6, 2017, at 6:00 p.m.
“Thereafter he will report on each successive Friday at 6:00 p.m. and he shall remain in custody until each Sunday at 6:00 p.m. until he has completed serving his jail sentence,” the judge ordered.
While serving the intermittent sentence, Gumban will be subject to a probation order which will include the following conditions:
• he will keep the peace and be of good behavior;
• he will have no contact directly or indirectly with P.A., V.T. or K.V;
• he will not go anywhere that he knows P.A., V.T. or K.V. live, work, or go to school;
• He will not be found in the area bounded by East 49th Avenue on the North, East 57th Avenue and Argyle Street on the South, Victoria Drive on the East and Knight Street on the West, in Vancouver, B.C;
• he will have no contact directly or indirectly with any person known by him to be or reasonably appear to be under the age of 16 unless he is in the immediate presence of Grace Gumban or pursuant to an order under the Family Law Act, the Divorce Act or the Child Family and Community Service Act;
• he will not to attend at any public park, or swimming area where persons under the age of 16 are present or may reasonably expected to be present including any daycare centre, school ground, playground, skating rink, recreational centre or community centre, unless he is in the presence of Grace Gumban, or as provided for in an order under the Family Law Act, Divorce Act or Child Family and Community Service Act.
