SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has upheld the sexual interference conviction of Zachery Fehr and increased the length of his sentence, ruling that the trial judge’s original sentence failed to match the seriousness of what happened.
Fehr, 22, at the time of the offence in 2023, was convicted of repeatedly having sex with a 15-year-old girl following a trial in Swift Current. He was sentenced in November 2025 to 14 months, followed by three years of probation.
“I find that the sentence imposed here is clearly inadequate and not proportionate to the gravity of this offence and Mr. Fehr’s level of personal responsibility for committing it,” said Justice Jerome A. Tholl in his Sept. 3 decision.
The province’s highest court substituted the 14-month sentence to two years less a day, while leaving the probation order in place and ordered Fehr to surrender to the RCMP detachment in Swift Current by 10 a.m. on Sept. 8.
The appeal court’s majority, Justice Tholl and Justice Keith D. Kilback, found that the trial judge didn’t make an error in the conviction but had imposed a sentence that departed substantially from the fundamental principle of proportionality. Justice Jillyne M. Drennan dissented on the sentence, agreeing the conviction should stand but concluded that the original sentence was proportionate.
Fehr had appealed his conviction and the Crown appealed the sentence, seeking 3.5 years, arguing that the trial judge failed to appreciate the gravity of the offence and Fehr’s moral culpability, and didn't give primary consideration to denunciation and deterrence.
The offence
During Fehr’s trial, court heard that he had engaged in sexual intercourse on three separate occasions with the girl.
The trial judge found that the girl, identified as J.F. under a court ordered publication ban protecting her identity, was a credible and reliable witness.
Fehr testified he didn’t have any sexual contact with J.F. but the trial judge rejected his evidence and that of his friend Logan Schwartz, finding their evidence “selective and tailored.”
Conviction appeal dismissed
A lawyer for Fehr argued on appeal that the trial judge applied a flawed credibility analysis, relied on improper credibility supports, misapprehended defence evidence, and misapplied the second and third stages of the Supreme Court’s framework in R. W (D) for assessing reasonable doubt.
The majority of the three-judge panel rejected all grounds.
