Crown seeking 29 years for sex abuse

A Crown prosecutor is asking a judge to impose a 29-year sentence for a man who sexually abused his two daughters over several years.

The man’s lawyer argued in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench on Tuesday that a sentence of 18 years would be more appropriate.

The 34-year-old man from a community in southwestern Manitoba previously pleaded guilty to possessing, making and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), incest and two counts of sexual interference.

A publication ban prohibits the Sun from publishing any information that could identify the two victims. The Sun is not naming the offender, as it could identify the victims.

“(He) was in the supreme apex position of trust over both these children. It was his job to keep them safe. He did the very opposite,” Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup said.

Lonstrup said the accused “committed multiple severe acts of penetrative and non-penetrative sexual abuse” against one of his biological daughters between September 2019 and October 2023. She was between eight and 12 years old.

The accused recorded the abuse and shared it online with two people — an offender from France and someone who he believed to be a pedophile but was an undercover operator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States.

Court heard he induced her not to tell anyone about the abuse with a “pinky promise” and would “pout” when she tried to refuse his sexual advances.

He sexually abused his other daughter between August 2021 and November 2023, when she was around eight to 10 years old, Lonstrup said. He said the accused touched the girl in her vaginal area both over and under her underwear on multiple occasions.

There were no recordings of these incidents, he said.

The man also possessed what the Crown described as a “very small quantity” of CSAM.

Lonstrup said there were several aggravating factors, including that he was in a position of trust and repeatedly victimized two young children, one of whom was subject to what would be considered the “maximal” level of physical violation.

He said it was aggravating that the accused’s motive in creating the CSAM was to have “tradable product” to get access to other materials and that his level of enthusiasm for the material was “appallingly high.”

“At one point, he literally presents his daughter on a live chat to someone that turned out to be the undercover operator and induced her to state that she enjoyed her own sexual abuse,” he said.

“This case highlights the disconcerting ease by which offenders can network and share this material online,” Lonstrup said. “The easy, boundless shareability of this kind of material means people like (the victim) will never know with certainty how many people have seen this.”

The Crown accepted that the offending against the younger daughter “was less frequent and less severe in terms of the scale of physical violation,” but said it can still have severe long-term consequences.

Lonstrup said mitigating factors included the man’s early guilty plea, his lack of a prior criminal record and the fact that he has attended counselling and sought “genuine spiritual help for his problems.”

The sentence imposed needed to be severe to reflect the gravity of the offending, the Crown said.

Defence lawyer Scott Newman said reports completed on the accused, including a Gladue report looking into the accused’s Métis background, outlined a history of interfamilial sexual abuse that affected multiple generations of his family.

He said the report writer noted that the man’s offending started when his childhood abuser “re-entered the family circle.”

“The offences before the court are certainly, in my view, tied to that sexual history contained within the family,” he said.

The reports made it clear that the accused struggled with self-esteem and family relationships growing up, and he eventually developed an addiction to pornography, Newman said.

He said the intensity of his behaviour increased after the death of his father in 2019 and the COVID lockdown soon after.

Newman said the accused has a history of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation, along with post-traumatic stress disorder, which stemmed from his work as a volunteer firefighter.

One of the reports said the accused spent three to eight hours a day watching pornography, he said.

“(The accused) in all of these reports, was very forthcoming,” Newman said. “He says repeatedly, ‘I’m glad I was caught because I know I would have kept offending.’”

The accused never intended to take the charges to trial and have his children testify, despite knowing the ranges of available sentences and how high they would be, court heard.

“Throughout all of the reports to present — he’s crying in court today — the remorse is deep. It’s profound,” Newman said. “It’s quite clear that he’s taking full responsibility, knows it was wrong, knows it will affect people’s entire lives and expresses that he was glad he got caught.”

Newman said the accused’s level of insight into his offending is high, and he has been going to Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings around three times a week for the past two years. He has also been attending a community church, where leadership is aware of the nature of his charges, and that has allowed him to grow spiritually, Newman said.

He said the accused has been on bail since December 2023 and hasn’t breached any of his conditions.

When given a chance to speak, the accused acknowledged the seriousness of his actions and apologized to his daughters and family.

“I am deeply embarrassed by my behaviours and the impact this has had on my family, my future, but most of all, the impact it has had on (the victims),” he said. “I am ashamed that I took advantage of the very things I cherish the most in my daughters — their love, their loyalty and their innocence.

Through tears, he thanked law enforcement for stopping the cycle of abuse he was committing.

Justice Scott Abel reserved his decision and is scheduled to sentence the accused in November.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com