Island man convicted of sex crimes to stay in N.S. prison while waiting on appeals, upcoming trial [Video]

An Island man who used to live in Cornwall but is now serving six years in a federal penitentiary for sex crimes against a minor will have to stay in prison as he waits for his case to proceed before the P.E.I. Court of Appeal. 

Blair Shane Somers, 57, was convicted after a five-day trial in June on charges of sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching against a victim under the age of 16.  

A publication ban is in place to protect the identity of the victim, who the original trial judge called a “little girl.” She was 12 when Somers first assaulted her. 

He was sentenced to six years in jail, which he’s serving at the Springhill Institution in Nova Scotia.

Somers has since filed an appeal of that conviction on the legal grounds that Justice John Mitchell made errors during the trial. 

That will be determined during the appeal, but in the …