Former Bermuda Housing Corporation manager and Regiment Major Glenn Brangman is today beginning a three-and-a-half year jail sentence for sexually assaulting a male BHC clerk.The 60-year-old launched an immediate appeal against the prison term but Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo told him he will have to wait behind bars until the appeal is heard.Mr Tokunbo convicted Brangman in February of assaulting the homeless 19-year-old victim four times between February and June 2009, during the course of their BHC work together.He touched the victim’s genitals and, during one of the offences, pushed the teenager down onto a bed.The maximum sentence he could have been given was five years.Prosecutor Nicole Smith read an impact statement filed by victim Mr X who cannot be identified for legal reasons during the sentencing hearing yesterday.The victim described the lasting physical and emotional impact of the attacks, which he said left him contemplating suicide and suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression.“I was homeless and jobless at the time I met Mr Brangman. I had very little means of support and he used that to his advantage to attack and abuse me and assault me whenever, however,” wrote Mr X.He continues to receive psychological counselling and said that the two-year trial process leading up to Brangman’s conviction took its toll on him.“I felt ashamed and embarrassed telling everyone in the courtroom and through the media of these very traumatic experiences,” he said.Prosecutor Nicole Smith said Brangman deserved a sentence of “no less than four years” in prison as there were a number of aggravating factors relating to the crime.“The accused was a father figure to the victim. This was borne out not only in the evidence of the victim, but in the evidence of the accused,” she said. “The defendant took advantage of, and abused that position and took advantage of a vulnerable person.”She added: “The evidence in the case is that the victim is not of a homosexual nature he’s heterosexual so that further aggravates this case because it shocked the very sexual integrity of the victim and that’s a fact we cannot ignore, no matter how uncomfortable and unpalatable it may be.”Defence lawyer Shade Subair urged the Magistrate to impose a non-custodial sentence due to Brangman’s previously “impeccable character”, history of community service and the impact the case has had on his life.She added that no force was used against the victim in three out of four offences.Brangman continues to maintain his innocence. He has already lost a Supreme Court appeal against his convictions, but hopes to pursue his case at the Court of Appeal next year. Meanwhile, he launched an appeal to the Supreme Court against his sentence moments after it was imposed.He told Mr Tokunbo: “I certainly apologise that so much time has been taken up in regard to this matter. Even though I continue to maintain my innocence, I do respect the finding of this court and the Supreme Court and as much as it hurts me, I will abide by the decision of this court.”The Magistrate described the offences as “very serious” and said that “in my view, they were calculated on the part of the defendant”.He added: “I accept what counsel for the defendant has said, that the offences were primarily non violent and not involving the use of force in relation to the first three offences.”However, he said they nonetheless involved the violation of Mr X’s “sexual integrity and privacy” and the fourth offence, where he was forced down onto a bed “involved the use of physical force and power being exercised over the victim”.The Royal Gazette revealed at the end of Brangman’s trial in February how he had been accused by 13 male soldiers of sexual misconduct before he was ordered to retire from the Regiment in 2002. Nothing was ever proven against him, and the Human Rights Commission dropped an investigation into the allegations on October 25.Mr X who was on probation due to a history of dishonesty offences at the time of the attacks was a conscripted soldier serving in the Regiment at the time Brangman molested him during the course of their BHC work.According to Mr X, he was wearing his uniform at the time, and he told the court in his victim impact statement: “I have left the Bermuda Regiment due to not feeling safe in the environment or being dressed in the uniform due to the assaults taking place on me in the Regiment uniform.”