(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)
July 14, 2016 - 9:00 PM
"ABHORRENT ACTS PERFORMED OVER AND OVER AGAIN"
KELOWNA – An Armstrong man who molested two young girls over the course of a decade was sentenced to four years in jail today.
Shane Mulholland, 40, was arrested in November 2014 and pleaded guilty July 6, 2016 to sexual interference of someone under 14 and sexual assault.
The abuse, according to both his defence and the Crown, occurred several times each month between 2004 and 2014.
A publication ban prohibits disclosing the identity of the victims, who were both under eight years old when the assaults started.
Mulholland had originally asked for a trial in B.C. Supreme Court but days before it was set to begin and after both victims were forced to relive the events, he pleaded guilty.
He showed no emotion as the details of the repeated assaults were read aloud in court or when judge Jane Cartwright quoted portions of the victim impact statements. They describe a life of depression, anger and hopelessness.
“Sex abuse at a young age changes your view of life,” one victim said. “Thoughts of suicide stick with you for life. I hated myself and the way I looked. I never wanted to look in the mirror. I felt like I meant nothing.”
Mulholland, who worked in the food and construction industries, has an extensive criminal record going back to 1991. He has been convicted of three assaults, causing a disturbance, two break and enters and uttering threats four times.
He has been in custody since his arrest and was given 888 days credit for the 600 he actually spent in pretrial custody. He will fulfill his sentence in 19 months.
“He watched the girls suffer with an impassive face,” Cartwright said. “(He) viewed them as inanimate objects, treated them like sex dolls… abhorrent acts performed over and over again.”
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