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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Daughters held, raped, tortured over 7 years

Man, 48, pleads guilty to sex-abuse charges

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 09/14/2012 1:00 AM

It's described as one of the worst child sex abuse cases discovered in Winnipeg.

Justice officials want an indefinite prison term for the 48-year-old man who confined, raped and tortured his two daughters over seven years, and captured much of the horror on film.

The accused, who can't be named to protect the identity of the two victims, pleaded guilty Thursday to 11 criminal charges including sexual assault causing bodily harm, making child pornography, forcible confinement, use of a firearm, invitation to sexual touching, possession of child porn and careless storage of weapons.

"What the (expletive) is wrong with you," Det. Derek Charison of the Winnipeg Police Service asked the man during a lengthy interrogation nearly a year ago.

A transcript of the interview, along with hundreds of pages of related documents, was tendered in court and reviewed by the Free Press.

"We're not going to leave any of this out (in court) because we're going to paint the picture of the monster that you are. Who does this to their own kids? A coward. That's who does it, a coward," said Charison. "Do you not feel anything for these kids? It just breaks my heart."

Police raided the man's Ness Avenue apartment in September 2011 and seized computer equipment containing 2,609 photos showing the man raping his children from 2002 to 2009, when they were between nine and 16.

An additional 125,000 images of child pornography were also seized showing unknown children, including babies, who were being sexually abused. Police also seized sex toys he used on the victims, lingerie he made them wear and 48 graphic stories about incest that he had downloaded.

"I've talked to some of the other officers that have been in this unit a lot longer than I have. They don't remember anything this bad," Charison told the accused, before adding sarcastically, "Congratulations. You get first place. Gold star."

The Crown is seeking a dangerous-offender application against the man following the completion of an extensive forensic report.

The Crown plans to show the photographic and video evidence in court. If successful, the accused would be given an indefinite prison sentence with no guarantee of being released.

The investigation began when one of the victims broke her silence and walked into a police station last fall with a shocking story that was quickly confirmed by the evidence.

She had disclosed the abuse to her boyfriend the previous night.

"Nobody should ever have to feel this way," the woman, now 21, said in her police interview.

Her sister, now 19, gave a statement days later. Much of what happened to the girls is too graphic to publish.

The girls typically spent much of their summers with the accused, who had separated from their mother.

He used a points system for the pair in which he assigned certain values to various sexual acts they'd perform, outfits they'd wear or toys they'd use.

He would reward them once they hit certain goals.

Police seized documents containing the list, and some of the videos included the girls holding up signs saying "this is for points."

"He always used bribes," one of the daughters told police. "Eventually we'd get enough points to go on a trip."

The two girls often begged their father to stop, even writing him letters when they were in their early teens.

Police seized copies and they were presented to the court.

"Dear Daddy, I love you more than you'll ever know. That's why I think we should stop what we do," one letter read. "We can still cuddle and stuff, just not the hard-core stuff. I'm sorry if you're mad."

Police also seized a sign the father had hanging up in the home, which included a list of rules.

At the top of the list was the phrase: "What goes on in this house stays in this house."

The convicted sex offender will remain in custody. No date was set for sentencing.

www.mikeoncrime.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 14, 2012 A5