Salmon Arm Law Courts

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

SALMON ARM - A Salmon Arm man was sentenced to seven years behind bars and added to the national sex offender registry after committing ‘depraved’ acts against his 13-year-old daughter.

The 41-year-old man, who cannot be named by court order to protect the identity of the girl, sexually assaulted his daughter five times over the summer of 2014, after she came to live with him in Salmon Arm.

The man pleaded guilty to sexual assault after seeing DNA evidence supporting the allegations and how well his daughter testified during a preliminary inquiry, Supreme Court Justice Sheri Ann Donegan said in her sentence.

“(He) realized there was really no way around these offences. He says he effectively had to accept responsibility,” Donegan said.

In court, the girl described one assault as the worst pain she experienced in her life. At one point, she also feared she was pregnant.

Her father told her not to tell anyone about the sexual encounters because he could get in a lot of trouble. He gave her alcohol, and on one occasion marijuana, to ‘entice her and to lower his own inhibitions,’ Donegan said.

One day, after missing school and getting grounded by her father, she told a friend about the abuse, which led to her disclosing the sexual assaults to a school counsellor. After that, police and the Ministry of Children and Families got involved.

While on bail, the father breached two court ordered conditions requiring him not to consume drugs or alcohol, and not to have contact with individuals under 18.

“In the summer months of 2015, (he) befriended a single, hearing-impaired mother of two young girls who were aged three and four years old,” Donegan said. “This young mother had no idea that (he) was bound by the bail conditions he was.”

He was often left alone with the children, Donegan said.

In delivering her sentence, Donegan noted the man has a criminal record including common assault, mischief, extortion and break and enter. The offences date back to 1994.

Donegan described the sexual assaults against his daughter as invasive, demeaning and painful.

“He used his vulnerable daughter, who looked to him for support and guidance, for his own depraved pleasure,” she said.

Donegan sentenced the man to seven years in jail, where she hopes he will make use of sex offender treatment and drug and alcohol rehabilitation. His name will also be added to the national sex offender registry for life.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

News from © iNFOnews, 2016