Man gets 24-year sentence for sexually abusing children

BRANDON — A man who sexually abused three young girls and made child sexual abuse material of them was sentenced to 24 years in custody in Swan River provincial court this week.

The offender, 44, pleaded guilty to three counts each of sexual interference and making child sexual abuse material, along with single counts each of possessing the material and accessing it.

The court ordered a publication ban on the offender’s name and other information that could identify the victims.

Crown attorney Sam Levkov and defence lawyer Jesse Blackman jointly recommended a sentence of 24 years.

Judge Christina Cheater agreed to the joint recommendation on Tuesday.

An agreed statement of facts, which Levkov read during the hearing, says two of the victims were between the ages of three and four years old, and one was between five and six years old at the time of the offences.

The offender was 41 years old when the crimes took place on a First Nation north of Brandon.

The offender repeatedly sexually interfered with the victims while they were awake and asleep, and he created sexual abuse material of them between July 15, 2023, and March 20, 2024.

Videos showed the children posed with their genitals exposed and various forms of penetration, the agreed statement of facts says.

Levkov said the man also showed “(the material) to the children on his tablet, dressing the children in fishnet stockings and placing makeup on their faces prior to committing some of these sexual interferences.”

The Manitoba RCMP internet child exploitation unit went to the man’s home to execute a search warrant and had to breach the door after knocks went unanswered.

They arrested the man and seized eight electronic devices.

“He acknowledged that he was attracted to children,” Levkov said. “He acknowledged that the children he was sexually abusing in the (material)… were ‘family.’”

The man said he committed the crimes in his home, but that he sexually touched them only two times and did it because he was intoxicated and depressed, Levkov said.

Police were only able to access two cellphones, one of which didn’t contain any child sexual abuse material.

An image analysis summary completed on the other phone showed there were 1,255 images and 169 videos of child sexual abuse downloaded from the internet, along with 2,684 images and 15 videos of the victims that had been created by the offender.

Blackman said the offender had been subjected to “significant” sexual abuse from family members at a young age.

— Brandon Sun