Sex offender sentenced to nine years

Convicted sex offender Allan Dean Griffin maintained his innocence until the bitter end.

But that didn’t stop Court of Queen’s Bench Justice John McCarthy from sentencing the Cochrane man Wednesday to nine years in prison for sexually abusing two stepdaughters.

McCarthy agreed with Crown prosecutor Ron Siminek there were multiple aggravating factors that warranted a severe penitentiary term, but the judge stopped short of the 10- to 12-year punishment the prosecutor had sought. Defence lawyer Paul Brunnen had argued for a sentence in the fourto five-year range.

Before sentencing, Griffin, who was convicted in March of sexually assaulting stepdaughters Taylor and Kylie French between 2001 and 2006, addressed the court.

“Sir, I’m addressing this court as an innocent man who has been convicted of crimes I did not and would not commit,” Griffin said defiantly.

“Only when these lies have been exposed will justice be served.”

Normally, a publication ban is imposed on the identity of sexual assault complainants, especially minors, but the victims asked that it be lifted in this case, so the offender can be identified.

McCarthy heard heart-wrenching victim impact statements from the girls’ mother, Lisa Fox, and from Taylor French. He also read privately a statement from Kylie French.

Fox said Griffin could have mitigated the suffering he caused, “if he had just owned up to his crimes years ago.”

She said “a huge part of me died inside” when she learned of the abuse.

“How could this have happened to my children?” Fox said, her voice cracking with emotion as Griffin sat in the prisoner’s box, unmoved.

“How could I have not known how evil he was?”

Taylor French noted Griffin once beat the charges, before the Court of Appeal ordered a new trial.

“This has been my nightmare for 15 years, and he’s already walked away once.”