N.S. man, 67, sentenced to 2½ years in prison for historical sexual assault

Blair Rhodes · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 22, 2026 5:13 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

A 67-year-old Annapolis Valley man found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl 20 years ago has been sentenced to 2½ years in prison.

Kenneth Kothlow of New Minas, N.S., who was convicted in March, was sentenced Wednesday in Bridgewater provincial court.

The assaults occurred between March 2006 and December 2007 when both Kothlow and the girl were in the Liverpool area on Nova Scotia’s South Shore. The victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was 16 and 17 years old at the time.

Kothlow’s lawyer had asked for a conditional two-year sentence to be served in the community, followed by probation, while the Crown sought a four-year prison term.

Judge Catherine Benton rejected both suggestions, opting instead for a sentence in the middle.

Kothlow’s victim watched Wednesday’s proceedings from a separate room at the Bridgewater courthouse.

In her victim impact statement, she said what Kothlow did to her did “change me, confused and distracted me from school and my everyday life, when I should have just been enjoying my teenage years.”

While she told friends and associates shortly after the assaults, the woman didn’t go to police until 2024.

“I am proud of myself for speaking the truth,” she told the court. “I only wish that I had come forward sooner.”

Kothlow’s name will also be placed on the national sex offender registry and his DNA will be added to a national databank.

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