Sentencing of suspended RCMP officer and his wife postponed

OTTAWA — Sentencing for a suspended RCMP counterterrorism officer and his wife, both found guilty in the severe abuse of an 11-year-old boy, has been put off.

The officer, who cannot be identified under a court order to protect the boy’s identity, has been ordered to undergo an independent psychiatric evaluation in advance of a sentencing hearing that could take place in late February or early March.

The 44-year-old man was convicted Nov. 21 of sexually assaulting and starving his son while the boy was shackled in the basement of his family home in a western suburb of Ottawa.

The boy’s stepmother was to be sentenced Friday after being found guilty of assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessaries of life.