‘I will carry this rage I have for him to my grave’

Victim says she will never forgive sex attacker

RED DEER, ALTA. • A victim who was touched sexually by a former Alberta politician says she will never forgive the man for destroying her childhood.

Don MacIntyre, 63, resigned in February of last year after he was charged with sexual interference and sexual assault. He pleaded guilty to the first charge in Red Deer, Alta., court Friday and was sentenced to three years in prison. The second charge was to be withdrawn.

The victim, surrounded by loved ones, cried as she described how the abuse made her give up creative pursuits she loved, gave her nightmares and made her physically ill. “It hurt my chest and I felt sick to my stomach all the time,” said the young woman, who cannot be identified. She said she is often angry. “I will carry this rage I have for him to my grave.”

According to an agreed statement of facts read out in court, MacIntyre touched the victim sexually with a part of his body between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2011. The touching happened between five to 10 times when the victim was 10 years old. She told her mother in 2015.

“He told her that God said that God was OK with the touching,” the statement said, adding the victim felt depressed and had suicidal thoughts. “She would visualize stabbing herself and killing herself.”

Court heard MacIntyre apologized after the assaults, asked for forgiveness and said it was part of “Satan’s plan to destroy (the victim’s) faith.”

The victim told court she sometimes thought she was imagining things or that it was her fault. When MacIntyre finally apologized, “I was so relieved I was not losing my mind,” she said.

The Crown asked for a prison sentence of between three and three-and-a-half years, while MacIntyre’s lawyer recommended two years.

Prosecutor Julie Snowdon said MacIntyre’s remorse was a mitigating factor, but she suggested that was tempered by his linking his actions to the devil.

“It’s easy and convenient to deflect blame to an external force such as Satan,” said Snowdon, who added that was a further example of the manipulation tactics he used on his victim.

Court heard MacIntyre, who his lawyer said is deeply religious, has also lost the support of his church community.

“This is a man who has been punished in so many ways and will continue to be punished until his last breath,” defence lawyer Ian McKaysaid.

MacIntyre apologized to the victim from the prisoner’s box for the “pain and anguish” he caused.

He then wished her a life that is “whole and healthy and happy.”

MacIntyre had represented the central Alberta seat of Innisfail-Sylvan Lake for the United Conservative Party.