Thirty-three-year-old Stephen Hopkins, convicted of sexually assaulting a teen in 2020, avoided a dangerous offender designation in court today and has instead been declared a long-term offender.

Hopkins was facing the prospect of a life sentence if he was declared a dangerous offender.

Instead, he was sentenced to six and a half years in jail for the sexual assault, break-in, confinement and death threat. With time already served, he has less than two years to serve on that sentence. Hopkins has been in custody since his arrest in September of 2020.

He will then be subject to long-term offender status for five years, which comes with a myriad of strict conditions but no extra jail time unless he runs afoul of those conditions.

Hopkins, a registered sex offender at the time, forced his way into a Cowan Heights home nearly four years ago and physically and sexually assaulted a teenage girl.

He had already served a sentence for assaulting female joggers on the Long Pond trail near Confederation Building.

Hopkins remained silent as Justice Peter O’Flaherty read his decision. He declined the opportunity to address the court, and was led away in handcuffs.

In handing down his decision, O’Flaherty expressed the hope that Hopkins can receive the counselling needed to “change the trajectory of [his] life”, and wished him luck.