Convicted child sex offender Taylor Dueck will remain in prison for now.
Dueck has been in custody since being charged in February with sexual touching of a person under 16 and violating his probation. He applied for bail, but the judge denied release after a hearing on March 6.
The reasons for the judge's decision and the details from the hearing cannot be made public.
Dueck's next court appearance is on March 21, and his trial for the recent charges will be scheduled in the days and weeks ahead.
Allegations that Dueck, a 29-year-old repeat sex offender, assaulted an 11-year-old girl at an equestrian centre where they were both taking lessons shocked the community and prompted a cry for change by the family involved and multiple levels of government.
There is concern about the lack of warning before Dueck was released into Kelowna.
Before being released into Kelowna, Dueck had been deemed a high risk to sexually reoffend, especially against female children under 18 years old, according to a warning issued by Lower Mainland RCMP under the Privacy Act of Canada.
In Kelowna, RCMP did not issue a public interest disclosure (PID) due to the threshold not being met with “the best and most recent knowledge of the subject.”
Cpl. Michael Gauthier stated, “While we cannot speak for other agencies, the BC RCMP has been very proactive with issuing a PID when we become aware of a person’s release into one of our communities.”
“A PID was sought prior to his release in Kelowna, however, the threshold was not met based on the totality of the circumstances,” said Gauthier.
Currently, no one has taken responsibility for the decision.
The Parole Board of Canada also has concerns about Dueck's behavior.
In a decision from October 2022, the board highlighted that Dueck had been under court-ordered supervision or serving a jail sentence for sexual violence offenses for almost nine years without a real break.
A psychological risk assessment found Dueck to be “well above average risk for future sexual offending.” The assessor warned that Dueck could reoffend at any time if he perceived a female of any age as “weaker or easily manipulated/controlled.”
