Alberta sex assault victim tells sentencing hearing she forgives attacker

Four years after she fought off Richard Mantha’s brutal attack and ran for her life, Aimee Ert is speaking out — with her name attached — for the first time.

At the convicted serial rapist’s sentencing hearing Tuesday, a publication ban that protected Ert’s identity was revoked. CBC News had previously called her Avery.

“My hope is that because I fought for my life, I’m able to fight for others, too,” said Ert, who wanted her name to be made public so she could share her story more widely.

Ert previously testified that she was drugged, choked and sexually assaulted after she agreed to go with Mantha to his acreage east of Calgary. She escaped from his trailer, located inside a Quonset, and ran across farmers’ fields.

“I don’t know if it was a sign, if it was intuition, or if it was just something that came over me that gave me that strength to fight. But at that moment was when I knew I wanted to live.”

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Mantha, 62, was convicted of six offences in April: sexually assaulting three women — one of whom he drugged, and another he suffocated and assaulted with a weapon — as well as uttering threats against a fourth woman.

He originally faced 20 charges involving seven women, mostly vulnerable sex trade workers with addictions issues.

Crown prosecutor Dominique Mathurin suggested Mantha spend 10 to 13 years in prison for his crimes. Meanwhile, defence lawyer Justin Dean argued he should get a lesser sentence of five to seven years.

“It is an attack upon the sense of security, autonomy and self-worth of the victim,” said Mathurin in her arguments.

“The individual who perpetrated those offences is no longer the individual that is sitting in that box,” said Dean, referring to his client’s poor health.

Justice Judith Shriar is expected to deliver her decision on Mantha’s fate on Sept. 17.

With Mantha present in the Calgary courtroom wearing a blue prison jumpsuit, Ert read two victim statements aloud: one she wrote when she was 17 months clean, and another more recently, at four years clean.

“I forgive Richard Mantha. For myself — not for him,” said Ert.

“I am also forgiving myself for allowing him, in this event, to hurt me. However, I will never forget what he did to me.”

She said she wants to be seen as a survivor — not a victim.

Though she’s struggled with work and relationships since the attack, Ert said she’s committed to recovery from a decades-long battle with addiction, which is why she’s chosen to forgive.

It’s also sad, she said, to see the state of Mantha today. A stroke has left him unable to speak.

“He’s not even a third of the man that he was when he attacked me.”

Regardless of the time Mantha spends in prison, Ert said she hopes justice is served and he gets the help he needs.

And she wants people who are struggling to see her as an example of what can be overcome.

Mantha tried to give a statement during the hearing, but was largely unintelligible. The justice is giving the defence time to figure out what he has to say and deliver it in writing.