Crown seeks 25-year sentence in child-abuse case: girl’s life ‘forever altered’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/10/2020 (1840 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man convicted of sexually abusing his girlfriend’s young daughter “groomed” the child’s mother into repeated acts of incest, a court heard Tuesday.

The man “very quickly convinced her to sacrifice her four-year-old daughter to his insatiable and grotesque sexual appetite,” said Crown attorney Carolyn Reimer, who urged a judge to sentence the man to 25 years in prison.

The 31-year-old was convicted after trial last year of sexual interference and making and distributing child pornography. He cannot be named as it might identify his now eight-year-old victim.

Court heard police found over 80 images on the man’s various electronic devices showing him and his former girlfriend sexually abusing the then four-year-old girl. The pictures were entered as evidence at trial, but were not shown in court Tuesday, so as to protect the young victim from further trauma, Reimer said.

“I don’t see how anyone can unsee that,” said Justice Herbert Rempel. “I don’t need to see any of that again to understand what is at stake here and the crimes committed.”

The girl’s mother previously pleaded guilty to four sexual assault- and child pornography-related offences involving her daughter. She is still awaiting sentencing.

Police arrested the pair in October 2016, after the woman’s brother reported finding child pornography on an electronic device she had accessed.

The couple was separated at the time, and the woman was living with her brother.

A subsequent police investigation uncovered images on the man’s cellphones of the couple abusing the girl, Facebook and text chats discussing the sexual abuse of children and evidence the man had shared abuse images via a peer-to-peer social media app.

During one three-month period, the man exchanged 1,200 messages online with another child sex predator who has since been arrested for abusing his baby daughter. Court heard the 31-year-old provided him with identifying information that could have allowed him to track down the young victim.

“It is terrifying for us knowing there was a child predator out there that had this information about (the victim) and was presenting a risk to her,” Reimer said. “It is very lucky police located this individual.”

At trial last year, the man denied the sex-abuse and child-pornography allegations, alleging his co-accused had access to his electronic devices and knew his passwords. The man claimed a male pictured in photographs abusing the victim was a look-a-like hired by his then-girlfriend to frame him.

At a related hearing prior to the trial, the mother claimed she only abused her daughter after her then-boyfriend threatened her with violence if she didn’t participate. She later testified she lied, admitting she was a “willing participant” and wanted to keep him happy and preserve their relationship.

At the time of the abuse, the mother had only weekend visits with her daughter, who was living with her biological father.

“The course of her life has been forever altered,” the girl’s father told court in a victim impact statement Tuesday. “At five, she suffered the dark depths of post-traumatic stress disorder. By six, I heard my child’s innocent voice wish for death because of the psychological damage and pain she continues to endure.

“This is a life sentence,” he said.

The sentencing hearing resumes Wednesday with submissions from the defence.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca