Rare criminal charge: Fraser Valley man sentenced in BC Supreme Court to six years prison for incest
Man who cannot be named also handed five years for sexual interference, which means the immediate family member victim was under 16
June 10, 2026
A 45-year-old Fraser Valley man is off to prison for six years convicted and sentenced for the rarely used Criminal Code offence of incest.
Because the victim in the case cannot be identified and, by definition, the offender is related, he can’t be named either.
The case goes back at least three years in Abbotsford. Almost nothing of the case can be reported other than the specific charges, the sentence, and when he was sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court. The man, H.A., born in 1981 was charged with four offences: incest, sexual interference, sexual assault, and assault. He was found guilty to incest, sexual interference, and assault. The sexual assault charge was stayed.
Under section 155 of the Criminal Code of Canada, incest is describe specifically as when one “who, knowing that another person is by blood relationship his or her parent, brother, sister, grandparent or grandchild, as the case may be, has sexual intercourse with that person.”
The charge comes with a maximum sentence of not more than 14 years and, importantly in this case, a minimum of five years if the victim is under the age of 16. Given that H.A. was also charged and convicted of sexual interference, we can infer that the family member he had sexual intercourse with was a child. Sexual interference specifically addresses sexual touching of a person under 16.
H.A. was sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday (June 9, 2026) by Justice Ardith Walkem to six years prison for the incest, five years for sexual interference, and six months for assault.
H.A. has no other criminal convictions in B.C., according to court services online. His only other entry was a $400 fine for driving without a driver’s licence in 2022.
The Facebook page of H.A., whose name is extremely unique in Canada, contains several recent photos of him standing on street corners in Abbotsford with others in matching T-shirts holding signs that say “Jesus Loves You” and “Jesus Coming Soon.” H.A. is clearly of Eritrean descent with several posts referencing that country and in the Tigrinya language, spoken in Eritrea and parts of Ethiopia. His surname is Eritrean.
Section 155 of the Criminal Code is rarely used for two main reasons, because there are such low rates of reporting family sexual abuse, but also because the charge is very narrow in scope. While sexual interference involves any type of sexual contact with a person under 16, incest requires three key elements: there must be actual sexual intercourse; the victim is in the category of close blood relationship (which includes half-siblings); and the accused must know about the blood relationship at the time of the sexual act.
Essentially, section 155 is a "last resort" charge because it is legally narrow, statistically obscure, and routinely eclipsed by other provisions of the Criminal Code that cover the same conduct more broadly.
What is absolutely certain, is that whatever federal prison in Canada H.A. is sent to, if his fellow inmates find out why he is there, he will need some element of protective custody. Inmates who are the most in danger in prisons include peace officers sentenced for crimes, gang members who rat out other gang members, and sex offenders. And in the category of sex offenders, child sex offenders are the lowest. One can assume incestuous child sex offenders are even lower and will need to look over their shoulders indefinitely.
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Paul J. Henderson
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