Crown may ask for dangerous offender status for B.C. child abductor

CRANBROOK, B.C. – The Crown says it will apply for a 60-day psychiatric assessment to determine whether B.C. child abductor Randall Hopley should be designated a dangerous or long-term offender.

Hopley covered his face as he arrived at a courthouse in Cranbrook, B.C., for a sentencing hearing.

The 46-year-old has already admitted to abducting three-year-old Kienan Hebert from the boy’s home in Sparwood, B.C., last September.

Hebert was returned unharmed four days later and Hopley was arrested a few days afterwards.

Crown Prosecutor Lynal Doerksen says the sentencing hearing will see a three-hour video of Hopley talking about what happened during the abduction.

Hopley pleaded guilty to abduction of a person under 14 and break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence, though the Crown stayed a charge of kidnapping.