{"id":727214,"date":"2026-06-10T09:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/727214\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T09:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:52:12","slug":"victim-impact-statements-heard-in-b-c-womans-human-trafficking-trial-bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/727214\/","title":{"rendered":"Victim impact statements heard in B.C. woman\u2019s human trafficking trial – BC"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARNING: Some of the details in this story are disturbing. Discretion is advised.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Victim impact statements were read on Tuesday in the sentencing hearing for Jennifer Stephens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She is charged in a human trafficking<\/a> case involving young victims.<\/p>\n

One of the victims spoke to Global News outside the court. Her identity is protected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she deserves to be in jail forever,\u201d the victim said.<\/p>\n

She added that Stephens tried to recruit her as a sex worker, but she never agreed.<\/p>\n

In July 2023, Stephens invited her to a drug and alcohol-fuelled party at the Holiday Inn in Surrey. She said she was beaten and held for almost two days in an argument over a man.<\/p>\n

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The victim said she was dragged by the hair, slapped 100 times, and forced to transfer money from her bank account.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has left me with so much scars on my face and that my face became very unrecognizable that nobody can recognize me,\u201d the victim said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy mom can\u2019t even recognize me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephens recorded some of the attacks on her phone and the victim said she was eventually let go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have nightmares from day to day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy nightmares would be like people coming into my room and starting to beat me up and I don\u2019t really know what\u2019s going on sometimes, just gives me really awful flashbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSentencing in human trafficking case\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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In January 2025, Stephens pleaded guilty to 17 charges related to a human trafficking case. One victim was a 13-year-old child.<\/p>\n

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Another victim impact statement from a sex worker was read in court. Stephens and a man assaulted her for more than four hours at a Langley hotel, she said.<\/p>\n

They forced the victim\u2019s head into a toilet while Stephens stood on her back; they punched her, whipped her with a phone cord, and poured hot wax on her head, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou laughed and thought it was funny when I was being beaten. I\u2019m the one laughing now,\u201d the victim said in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I always wanted is for people to love and cherish me. You knew that and took advantage of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou treated me like I was nothing. Like I wasn\u2019t even human, but I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crown is asking for a minimum 13-year sentence for Stephens.<\/p>\n

The defence is asking for seven years, saying Stephens has substance abuse and psychotic episodes and has been clean for two-and-a-half years while in custody.<\/p>\n

The hearing continues on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WARNING: Some of the details in this story are disturbing. Discretion is advised. Victim impact statements were read…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,2169,107568,262330,44],"class_list":["post-727214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-human-trafficking","tag-jennifer-stephens","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}