Man used Wi-fi password as leverage for sex acts with young stepdaughter

Behind closed doors when no one else was home, a Saskatoon family ’s Wi-fi password — withheld as a disciplinary measure and to encourage better sleep habits — was being provided to a young girl in exchange for sexual favours.

Her stepfather’s deranged reward system essentially turned the girl into an object within her own home, Crown prosecutor Tamara Rock said during the man’s sentencing hearing in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench.

Them an, whose name can’ t be published to protect the identify of his victims, was convicted last week of providing consideration for sexual acts to a person under 18 and two counts of sexual inter- ference. One count encompasses the three years of abuse the girl endured when she was between 10 and 13 years old; the other stems from an incident involving her younger sister on Feb. 15, 2017.

The 10-year-old girl had stayed home from school that day.

She testified that her then-stepfather asked her to change out of her one-piece pyjamas and into shorts and a T-shirt.

He then invited the girl into his bed, inappropriately touched her and asked if he could use a sex toy onher.

The girl refused and ran from the home while she was still clad in her pyjamas.

Her stepfather followed in his car until he heard the sound of distant sirens. The girl had texted her mom from her tablet. It wasn’t until she heard what happened to her sister that the older girl came forward about her abuse, which included various forms of penetration, Rock said.

She spoke about the man’s level of grooming and premeditation: how he planned the abuse for when the girls’ mother wasn’t home.

Rock sought a sentence of sevenand-a-half years because the case involved two victims and prolonged abuse.

More severe sentences are needed to denounce the sexual abuse of children, she argued.

Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle argued for a four-year sentence, citing prior case law with similar sentences for similar offences, and his 48-year-old client’s lack of a previous criminal record.

After a brief adjournment, Justice Shawn Smith returned to sentence the man to six years in prison, saying his “level of betrayal was profound” and has caused extreme trauma.

In her victim impact statement, the older sister wrote about having flashbacks and anxiety at the possibility of seeing her former stepfather.

She said she’s afraid to wear dresses and skirts.

Court heard the girl didn’t realize what happened to her was wrong until she started high school.

Her mother and aunt described her as emotionally flat and isolated after losing friends who found out about the abuse.

The younger sister, who did not provide an impact statement because she didn’t want the accused to see it, sleeps in her clothes because pyjamas remind her of the assault, her aunt said.