A Metro Vancouver escort accused of drugging and robbing clients has pleaded guilty to theft.
Jessica Kane, 32, admitted to stealing just over $92,000 and a cellphone from six men.
The victims were vulnerable because they were highly intoxicated, Crown prosecutors alleged.
Kane was initially charged with drugging her clients and robbing them, along with a charge of manslaughter. Those charges have been stayed.
“It seems like it isn’t fair. It isn’t fair,” said Alex Sherry, whose brother Dustin Lefebvre’s death led to that manslaughter charge.
Sherry said he was frustrated the charges had been dropped with no explanation from prosecutors.
“It’s unfortunate. It seems like it’s not the right system. There’s something off,” he said.
Crown counsel would not comment on why the drugging charges related to alleged offences in Surrey were stayed.
In Vancouver, the case collapsed because the alleged victim did not want to testify.
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Kane has always adamantly denied drugging anyone, according to her lawyer.
Outside the Surrey Provincial Court, Kane herself declined to comment.
The Crown is asking for a jail sentence of time already served on the theft charges.
Defence is arguing for a conditional discharge, which would mean Kane faces no criminal record.
Kane has already spent 23 months in custody which, with credit for time served, is already too high, her lawyers have argued.
She has no criminal record and pleaded guilty to theft, sparing the victims who are embarrassed and ashamed from having to testify, they said.
Defence further argued there was egregious conduct by the police, including 20 breaches of Kane’s charter rights.
Kane had a difficult life, working in the sex trade since she was 16 to support her mother. Her father was abusive to her mother, and is on Canada’s most wanted list for intimate partner violence, defence told the court.
The Crown argued Kane was motivated by greed, and that her behaviour was predatory and premeditated over a period of 18 months.
None of the victims were in court but Crown lawyers read their statements of shame, embarrassment and fear to the court.
Last year Kane was also charged for drugging and robbing a man in Alberta. Police have now confirmed all charges in that province have been stayed.
— with files from Rumina Daya
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