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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Jail dad for years of abuse: Crown

8-year term sought for molester, 68

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 02/26/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Manitoba justice officials are seeking an eight-year prison term for a retired high school teacher convicted of physically and sexually abusing his own children.

The 68-year-old man -- who can't be named to protect the identity of his victims -- will learn his fate at a sentencing hearing next month after being quietly convicted earlier this winter. His lawyers claim the 33 months he has already spent behind bars is more than enough of a penalty and are seeking his immediate release from jail.

All of his crimes occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s on two Manitoba native reserves but weren't revealed until one of his children went to RCMP in 2002. The girl, then 16, said she feared her father might have given her HIV. Tests later came back negative.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Colleen Suche found the man guilty of sexually abusing the girl between 1989 and 1993, beginning when she was three years old. He was also convicted of repeatedly assaulting her and her brother during the same period, beginning when the boy was five. The incidents involved beatings and spankings.

The man has two other older boys who claimed they were never assaulted and actually supported their father at trial. However, several former teachers, neighbours and child-welfare officials testified that all four children have displayed extreme "sexualized behaviour" throughout their lives, which included inappropriate incidents towards other children at school and in the community.

They list a number of disturbing incidents including graphic drawings, sexually explicit language, exposing their genitals in the classroom, masturbating in public, as well as frequently running around their home and yard naked.

All of this was occurring while the father was employed as a teacher. His professional career began in 1976. He married the sister of one of his former students. The couple had four children but their relationship was dysfunctional. The mother was deemed to be extremely "low functioning" and battled alcohol abuse which often took her out of the home for long periods, court was told.

Child and Family Services finally intervened in the early 1990s. The four children were ultimately removed from the home and placed in permanent foster care. Their father repeatedly denied any knowledge of why his kids were acting out, claiming there was no inappropriate behaviour in the home.

At one point, he speculated "they must have learned these things from other kids... and from watching the dogs in the community," court was told. RCMP also began an investigation but it ended without charges. It wouldn't be reopened until the girl came forward in 2002 with her shocking claims.

Police finally laid charges in 2005 after another lengthy investigation. The case dragged through the courts before finally going to trial in 2008. It was adjourned on several occasions, finally concluding last November.

"This was an enormously complex and difficult case," said Suche. She noted how conflicted the man's children were to testify against him, with his now 23-year-old daughter often waving and smiling at her father in court while giving damning evidence against him.

"She began her evidence by saying she 'came to tell the truth and get this over with so I can forgive my father,' " said Suche in her written verdict. She rejected the accused's testimony, saying he "lacked credibility" and appeared to have tried to influence his children to change their stories by writing them several letters since his arrest.

www.mikeoncrime.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 26, 2010 A12

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