Judge reserves sentence in father’s sexual assault case

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This article was published 03/07/2025 (266 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Court of King’s Bench judge has reserved his sentencing decision for a Brandon man who confessed to sexually assaulting his daughter.

The man, who was charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching, appeared in court on Thursday for sentencing after he admitted to inserting his fingers in his daughter’s vagina for five seconds.

Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said the assault happened roughly 10 years ago when the daughter was around 12 or 13 and the father was about 40 years old.

“It isn’t a stretch of the imagination to believe her autonomy and trust were both deeply violated by her father,” Mathu said.

Mathu asked the Crown to consider a three-year prison sentence along with other conditions, including not to contact his daughter or be within 200 metres of her; a lifetime ban from working, volunteering or attending spaces where children under 16 could be present; and not to communicate with children under 16 unless under their parent’s supervision.

Mathu said the offender moved from El Salvador in 2006 and is now a Canadian citizen. When his daughter went to the police about the incident, her father and older brother moved out of the home and she continued to live there with her mother and younger brother.

Mathu said that while the daughter didn’t give a victim impact statement, in meetings with her, she expressed concerns about consequences for other family members if the charges went forward.

“The whole series of events have impacted her life,” Mathu said. “Defence counsel might suggest that five seconds is a short period and therefore not that damaging, but even one second of a father violating his child in this heinous way is too long.”

Mathu said aggravating factors are that her father penetrated her, that she was in her early teens, that he used his position of trust to violate her for his own gratification and that it happened in her own home, which was supposed to be a place of “sanctity and safety.”

She noted that children who are abused by caregivers often take a long time to come out about it, and sometimes they don’t at all.

“Her age made it impossible to protect or remove herself from the situation,” Mathu said.

She said a mitigating factor is that the offender pleaded guilty and spared his daughter from testifying in a trial.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison asked the court to consider a conditional sentence of two years less a day, which means the offender would serve his sentence from his home under strict conditions.

Harrison said the man has been out on bail for the last three and a half years without any breaches, which shows his ability to follow court orders.

He gave him credit for pleading guilty and said it’s difficult pleading to any sexual offence, especially when it’s on a family member, and that charges have a large stigma around them.

Harrison said the man is deemed very low risk to reoffend and that’s confirmed by the fact that he hasn’t had any new charges since this offence took place roughly 10 years ago, and had no prior criminal record.

He also said the man has been going to counselling since 2022, addressing different personal issues, including ones that led to this offence.

Harrison said the man is remorseful of his actions, believing they were senseless, and that he takes responsibility for them.

“During one visit to my office, he said, ‘A father is there to protect his children, not harm them,’” Harrison said.

Justice Scott Abel is scheduled to deliver his sentence in late September.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com