VANCOUVER - A Vancouver man who bit off his girlfriend's nose after she refused to have sex with him has been sentenced to eight years for aggravated sexual assault.
When time already spent in custody is counted, 45-year-old Rodolfo Gonzalez-Hernandez will serve 4.5 years for the November 2009 attack, far less than the 18-year sentence the Crown had asked for.
The attack occurred when the man's new girlfriend, who cannot be named, refused to have sex with him following an afternoon of drinking.
Judge Mary Humphries says an eight year term offers Gonzalez-Hernandez access to federal treatment programs, noting the man continues to insist the biting was an accident and the victim's other facial injuries, such as two black eyes, occurred during consensual sex.
The 40-year-old victim has undergone successful reconstruction surgery but lacks any sense of smell or taste, or any feeling in her nose.
The judgment notes she continues to cope with psychological problems because she believes she is deformed.
