Crown appeals sentence given to former school teacher Amy Hood

The Crown is appealing the house arrest sentence given to a former Pictou County school teacher for sex crimes involving two teenage boys.
Amy Hood was convicted last April of sexual exploitation, sexual interference and child luring.
At her trial, she admitted to exchanging sexually explicit texts with both boys and performing oral sex on one of them.
The offences were committed in the summer of 2013 while Hood was a Grade 6 teacher at Thorburn Consolidated School in Pictou County.

Sentenced to house arrest

At her sentencing last month, Judge Del Atwood gave Hood 15 months of house arrest followed by two years of probation.
Atwood rejected the mandatory minimum sentence outlined in the Criminal Code, which calls for one year in jail for anyone convicted of sexual exploitation.
Mandatory minimum sentences were introduced by the former federal Conservative government for certain sex crimes.

Crown seeking stiffer sentence

In his sentencing, Atwood said the one-year minimum sentence was cruel and unusual punishment and violated Hood's charter rights.
The Crown disagrees.
In appeal documents filed last week, it argued the judge erred in rejecting the mandatory minimum sentence. The Crown also said house arrest "inadequately reflects the objectives of denunciation and deterrence."

The Crown is asking the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal to impose a new sentence of at least two years in prison.