Man pleads guilty to abusing girls at home daycare

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This article was published 24/03/2023 (964 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man has admitted to sexually abusing two young children at a home-based daycare where he lived.

Robert Prince, 37, appeared in court via video Friday and pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual interference, two counts of making child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

The charges involve offences committed between March 2017 and early 2022, beginning when the children, both girls, were under eight years old.

Prince came to the attention of police after the discovery of a child sex abuse video he posted to Facebook in April 2021, according to an agreed statement of facts read out in court.

Winnipeg police charged Prince with distributing child pornography in January 2022 and seized his cellphone. A subsequent analysis of the phone uncovered 158 child sex abuse images and five videos, involving girls between the ages of two and 12. Fifteen of the images depicted two girls who attended the daycare, which court was told was operated by Prince’s wife.

Time stamps on two of the photos confirmed the girls were five and seven at the time they were taken.

In an interview with police last year, one of the victims said Prince abused her on six occasions when they were alone together at the daycare.

The girl said on one occasion she had been sleeping and woke up to Prince “humping” her. On another he made her kiss him in exchange for candy, she said.

Prince said he accepted the facts as provided to court.

The Crown stayed charges of distributing and accessing child pornography.

Prince remains in custody. He will return to court for sentencing at a later date following the completion of court-ordered reports.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca