Man gets 17 years for sexually abusing daughter

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This article was published 13/06/2023 (1197 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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A Westman father was sentenced to 17 years behind bars for sexually abusing his daughter for more than a decade.

Justice Scott Abel delivered his decision in Court of King’s Bench on Monday after reserving his ruling from April, when the court previously heard the case of the man, who pleaded guilty to charges of voyeurism, sexual assault, sexual interference and incest that occurred between 2002 and 2019.

“The offender saw the victim, his own child, as an object to exploit for his own gratification without regard to the harm done to her,” Abel said.

In April, prosecutors sought a 20-year prison sentence with numerous restrictive court orders, including a lifetime sex offender registry order, while the defence requested a 12-year prison term.

The 48-year-old man can’t be named due to a publication ban intended to protect the identity of the victim.

The man began abusing his daughter when she was four years old by touching her while he bathed her. The sexual touching continued to escalate to having sex with her when she was 10.

The man would have sex with his daughter a few times a month until she was 16. During the times that the girl would resist her father’s advances, he would get angry and bruise her when he forced her legs apart.

When the girl would suggest talking to someone else about her father’s behaviour, he would tell her that incest was an “ancestral habit” and that it “helped build special bonds.”

The abuse then resumed again when the victim was 19 and the man took pictures of her when she was sleeping — sometimes when she was only wearing a T-shirt and underwear, and others when she was sleeping topless. He also stole intimate images of his daughter from her phone that she had been sending to her boyfriend at the time.

The girl’s family filled the back row of the courtroom while Abel read his decision.

While reading his decision, the judge underscored the seriousness of offences that use children to satisfy sexual desires and stated children have a right to grow up in a safe environment.

“They have an inalienable right not to be subjected to sexual violence or turned into sexual objects used to satisfy the offender’s sexual urges, and they are especially entitled not to be used in such a fashion by a parent,” Abel said.

The judge said the abuse has already begun to manifest as he summarized the victim’s impact statement, which was read by her mother in court in April. The girl wrote that her mental and emotional scars will never fade.

Though the judge said factors such as the man’s lack of criminal record, his guilty pleas and the consideration of his rehabilitation, Abel said he found the 48-year old’s attitudes toward his offences concerning.

Citing the pre-sentence report, the judge noted the man did not seem to have much remorse for his actions and even expressed that he didn’t know how he crossed from seeing the victim as his daughter to someone he could have sex with.

Abel said when the man spoke to the court, his comments focused on how his actions had impacted him, such as the loss of his family, friends and job, rather than provide much insight into how his daughter was affected.

However, the judge did give the 48-year-old credit for taking steps on his own to begin counselling.

“Our role as parents is to keep our children safe, safe from themselves when they make mistakes, and safe from others who do them harm,” Abel said. “In this case, the offender took advantage of that relationship to do harm to the one person he was to keep safe.”

Ultimately, the judge sentenced the man to 17 years in prison as well as a lifetime sex offender registry order as well as an order to not attend any public area where kids under 16 years old could be present, as well as a no-contact condition with his daughter. He is also subject to conditions prohibiting him from maintaining a social media profile and from distributing online content or images or videos regarding the victim or any child under 18.

Under Canadian law, federal offenders are normally eligible to apply for full parole after serving one-third of their sentence.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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