Dangerous offender hearing continues for abusive mom

A woman who sexually abused her four-year-old daughter and offered the child to men for sex is of low to moderate risk to reoffend, according to a forensic psychiatrist.

“With a comprehensive management plan, her risk of low to moderate can be managed in the community,” Dr. Treena Wilkie said Monday in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines at a dangerous offender hearing for the 34-year-old Niagara woman.

Wilkie diagnosed the woman, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of her victims, as having borderline personality disorder, a substance abuse disorder and a paraphilic disorder linked to incest.

Court heard the defendant has a “disturbed attachment” to other people and is attracted to males with deviant sexual interests.

Wilkie recommended the woman not be around children under the age of 16.

She said the comprehensive management plan should include supervision, medication and various therapeutic interventions.

The mother of two pleaded guilty in January 2017 to dozens of sex-related offences including sexual assault and making and distributing child pornography.

She was one of six people arrested on 77 charges in August 2016 following a nine-month investigation by the Niagara Regional Police into alleged sexual abuse and internet exploitation of young children.

Six children, aged four to 17, were identified and rescued in what police dubbed Project Iceberg.

The woman is the biological mother of two female victims, the four-year-old and one under the age of 18.

Her youngest child was placed in foster care in early 2017 after her mother was arrested. She has since been adopted.

The child protection worker testified earlier the girl, now six, often exhibits inappropriate sexual behaviour and requires constant supervision.

The Crown is seeking to have the woman declared a dangerous offender, which would mean she could be jailed indefinitely.

The judge could also designate the woman as a long-term offender. That designation would require the defendant to be supervised for 10 years after finishing any jail sentence imposed by the court.

The hearing will continue before Judge Ronald Watson.