Man convicted of abusing stepdaughters granted bail pending appeal

A Manitoba man sentenced last week to 20 years in prison is free on bail pending an appeal of his convictions for sexually assaulting his two stepdaughters for over a decade.

The 53-year-old man won his release following a contested bail hearing Thursday morning before Manitoba Court of Appeal Justice Diana Cameron.

The man was convicted of two counts of sexually assaulting the victims beginning in the early 1990s when they were six to seven years of age and continuing until they were young adults and had left home.

“The harm caused to (the victims) is profound,” King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne said at a sentencing hearing Oct. 15. “Their childhood was violently taken from them. He carefully groomed these children from an early age to comply with his sexual desires.”

Court heard at trial the victims didn’t report the man to police until 2021 when they were told he had allegedly sexually abused their niece.

The man – who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims – has no prior criminal record and for years was active in community politics and volunteer activities, court was told.

“Outside the abuse, he made sure he looked like a normal dad, took the kids fishing and hunting, looked after the family,” Champagne said.

The abuse started with sexual touching, escalated over time to oral sex and, with one victim, sexual intercourse three to four times a week for years. The man abused the girls at home, in his car, at his workplace and at locations where he volunteered.

The abuse “warped my identity… and taught me that pleasing others was how I stayed safe and liked,” one of the women told court in a victim impact statement. “Sex became a form of currency to gain small freedoms and avoid conflict,” she said.

Both women continue to have feelings of shame, fear and guilt, and difficulty trusting men, Champagne said.

The maximum sentence for sexual assault was 10 years at the time the man committed the offences (the maximum sentence has since been increased to 14 years in cases involving victims under 16 years of age).

Champagne said a maximum total sentence of 20 years was “fit and proper,” noting the man had an untroubled upbringing and could not point to an addiction, mental illness or other “mitigating factor” that might explain his actions.

“The gravity of these offences is extreme and (he) is fully responsible for his conduct,” Champagne said.

The man maintains he is innocent of the charges. In a notice of appeal, he cited eight grounds for appeal, including allegations Champagne’s verdict was unreasonable and that he inappropriately relied on “similar fact” reasoning to reach his verdict.

Court heard Thursday that if released, the man would work in the same small community where one of his victims lives.

Cameron, noting the man’s breach-free record while on bail since his 2021 arrest, said she was satisfied he did not pose a risk to the community and that there was some merit to his appeal.

The man’s appeal will be heard March 3.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca