VANCOUVER — A man, who was acquitted of the 1984 murder of 13-year-old Winnipeg schoolgirl Candace Derksen, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a British Columbia woman.
A B.C. Supreme Court justice sentenced Mark Edward Grant on Monday for charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement.
The province’s prosecution service says the imposed sentence works out to nine years and 42 days after taking into account time served.
Grant was arrested in January after police said a woman in her sixties has been sexually assaulted by a man inside a residential building in the city’s Downtown Eastside.
Grant was found not guilty of second-degree murder in 2017 in the death of Derksen, who was last seen walking home from school in November 1984, after he was granted a new trial by the Supreme Court of Canada following a guilty verdict in 2011.
Derksen’s frozen body was found six weeks after she went missing, with her hands and feet bound, in an industrial shed, and Grant was arrested in 2007 and found guilty in 2011 based on DNA evidence from the twine used to bind Derksen.
The Supreme Court of Canada, however, overturned the conviction two years later, leading to a new trial in 2017 where the DNA evidence was ruled to be flawed due to deterioration between the death and Grant’s first trial.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2026.
If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:
- Call 911 if you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety.
- The Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres’ website has a comprehensive list of sexual assault centres in Canada that offer information, advocacy and counselling.
- The Ending Violence Association of Canada‘s website has links to helplines, support services and locations across Canada that offer sexual assault kits.
- Indian Residential School Survivors Society crisis lines: +1 866 925 4419 or +1 800 721 0066 (24/7)
- Toronto Rape Crisis Centre crisis line: +1 416 597 8808 (24/7)
- Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: +1 833 900 1010 (24/7)
- Trans Lifeline: +1 877 330 6366
- Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 988 (24/7)
- Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre for current and former Canadian Armed Forces members: +1 844 750 1648
- Read about your rights as a victim on the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime website.
