WINNIPEG – A Crown attorney in Winnipeg says a man who was 17 when he committed two horrific sex attacks should be sentenced as an adult.

Jennifer Comack told a sentencing hearing the man, who cannot be identified because of his age at the time, must be held responsible for his part in the attacks in November 2014.

The former teen, along with an adult friend, have pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault.

In the first attack, the pair robbed, stomped and sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl, who ended up in a frigid river clinging to life.

Hours later, the pair attacked a 23-year-old woman in a similar way.

Court has been told the younger attacker has a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and reads at a Grade 3 level, but Comack says that does not mean he should receive a lighter youth sentence.

Having fetal alcohol syndrome “does not automatically mean somebody is less morally culpable,” Comack told court Wednesday.

“I am taking the position that his moral blameworthiness remains very high.”

If sentenced as a youth, the now-19-year-old faces a maximum sentence of three years in custody. As an adult, the maximum sentence would be life.