Pelham senior gets five years for historic child-sex charges

Partying at the rural Pelham home of an adult with ample access to free alcohol and drugs seemed like “paradise” to the then teenage boy.

“It was awesome to hang out and get hammered,” the man, now an adult, recalled. “It was paradise, almost.” That initial utopia, however, soon evolved into a hell of misery and shame that he is still trying to come to terms with.

Between the ages of 15 and 17, the man was repeatedly molested by William (Red) Child, who encouraged teenage boys to “party” at his Foss Road residence in the 1980s and 1990s.

During these gatherings of young men, Child would supply the teens with alcohol as well as marijuana and cocaine.

Assistant Crown attorney Pat Vadacchino told Judge Richard Loccoco that Child used “purposeful, predatory and deliberate behaviour to satisfy his deviant sexual appetite.”

In Welland Superior Court on Tuesday, Child, now a frail and ailing 74-year-old man, was sentenced to five years in custody after he pleaded guilty to a multitude of sex-related offences involving four victims dating back to between 1975 and 1994.

Given the time he has spent in pretrial custody, Child must serve an additional two years behind bars.

The first victim addressed the court at the sentencing, telling the judge he grew into an angry young man after being molested by the defendant.

“In high school, I was that guy everyone thought was an a--hole,” he said.

Years later, he is still haunted by what happened to him.

“Every so often, the darkness comes,” he said.

He called his abuser a “master of his craft” in that he groomed his young victims by gaining their trust and offering them alcohol and drugs.

A second victim, who was 13 when the abuse began, said his life has been a “constant emotional roller-coaster for many years.”

In his victim impact statement, which was read into court, the complainant said he’s had issues with alcohol and drugs for many years and wonders if his life would have taken a different path if he had not been molested as a child. As a young adult, he often got into fights because he felt he had to “prove his manhood.”

“Keeping this secret for so many years is horrible,” he wrote. “The shame and guilt is like an uncovered wound that will not go away.”

He said May 18 — the day Child pleaded guilty to the charges — was the first time he had had “a complete six hours of sleep not interrupted by nightmares in many, many years.”

Child was originally arrested in August 2012.

Niagara police re-opened the investigation in spring 2015 and laid additional charges after two brothers reported Child had molested them between 1975 and 1977 starting when they were six and eight years old.

One of the brothers said Tuesday he has used crack cocaine for the past 25 years as way to try to cope with what happened to him as a boy.

His brother said his memories of being molested are as vivid today as they were in the 1970s.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what happened,” he said. “It makes me sick to my stomach. I have a lot of pent up anger and rage.”

Vadacchino said the joint submission on sentencing by the Crown’s office and defence counsel George Walker came as a result of the fact Child pleaded guilty to the charges which saved the victims from having to relive the horror of their ordeals at a trial.

Prior to being sentenced, Child addressed the judge.

“I’m very sorry for what I’ve caused these people, these gentlemen,” he said, not looking at the four men in the court room.

As he was led out of the court, one of the victims yelled “look at me, you f--king piece of s--t.”