‘A never-ending crime’

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This article was published 27/06/2023 (869 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prosecutors are seeking a 15-year prison sentence for a Winnipeg man who sexually abused two young girls at a home-based daycare.

Robert Prince, 37, pleaded guilty in March 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.

Court was told Prince abused the girls when his wife, who operated the daycare, was out of the house.

Prince “would wait for his opportunity… and exploit and violate them,” Crown attorney Monica Turner told provincial court Judge Victoria Cornick. “This was not a momentary lapse or lapse in judgment, this was a distinct pattern of behaviour.”

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. Pictures included an image of Prince sexually abusing one of the girls and pictures of the second girl in graphic sexual poses.

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.

A presentence report provided to court said Prince told a probation officer he “took advantage of a situation (he) shouldn’t have,” and rationalized his offending against one victim, saying: “I didn’t want to force her if she didn’t want to.”

The mothers of both girls provided emotional victim impact statements to court, detailing the life-changing effect his betrayal wrought upon their families.

“We will carry this in our blood for life,” one woman said, adding she and her daughter affectionately called Prince “uncle.”

“We are contaminated… this is a never-ending crime that keeps on in repeat mode,” she said.

The other mother described the anguish of identifying her daughter in abuse images provided to her by police.

“If you listened carefully, you could hear my heart break into a million pieces,” the woman said.

“After learning what you put my daughter through, not only did you steal her body, you made her unable to speak her truth to her mother about the monster who was hurting her,” she said.

Defence lawyer Scott Newman urged Cornick to sentence Prince to 10 years in prison, arguing the 15 years recommended by the Crown would crush any hope for rehabilitation.

Newman argued Prince’s decision to post child abuse images to Facebook suggested he wanted to be caught, noting after his arrest he helped police by identifying one of the victims.

“That is far more than remorse, that is active participation that brought the investigation to a conclusion,” he said.

Prince apologised to his victims and their families.

“No words can express the regret for what I have done,” he said. “Saying sorry is not enough. I know I can never make up for what I have done.”

Cornick will sentence Prince on Sept. 6.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca