Convicted pedophile declared dangerous offender
A former Niagara man, convicted of raping and sodomizing his three children, has been declared a dangerous offender and will be jailed indefinitely.
“I find that there is no concrete plan before the court to satisfy me that (the offender’s) risk could be managed once he is released from prison,” Judge Linda Walters said Monday in a Superior Court of Justice in St. Catharines.
The judge said the 47-year-old man, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of his victims, would pose a serious threat to other persons, particularly young children.
In a written decision, Walters called the man’s actions “horrific, disgusting and inhumane.”
“I have no difficulty in finding that it constitutes brutality,” Walters said. “I do not need an expert to describe to me the meaning of brutality.
“Having full sexual intercourse with your nine-year-old child, continually forcing anal intercourse on her and the other children, duct taping arms and mouth is brutal.”
In a victim impact statement, one of the victims said he continues to struggle with the effects of the abuse.
“Sometimes I have nightmares that bring me back to when I was younger. I feel so torn up inside. It hurts to think and I feel empty, even with all the support we’ve received.”
Another victim wrote: “If words could describe the pain he’s caused, I could surely write a book...if words could describe the evil he’s done. He treated our hearts and souls like they were cheap dollar store toys.”
Prior to being declared a dangerous offender, the defendant stood in the prisoner’s box and apologized.
He described himself as a “demented coward” who failed to see his own children as human beings.
“I have no one to blame but myself,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion.
The former St. Catharines resident was convicted in November 2015 of 18 counts of physical and sexual-abuse related offences including incest.
One daughter testified the abuse began when she was seven or eight after her father showed her a pornographic film of a man abusing a child.
He told her, “This is how a father acts with his children.”
The man also coerced his son, then nine, to sexually assault his seven-year-old sister. He told the children “it was normal between brothers and sisters.”
The judge said the “factual underpinnings for these convictions are horrific.”
Assistant Crown attorney Holly Nickel had said a dangerous offender designation was the only appropriate outcome as the man’s behaviour is “a threat to the life, safety or physical and mental well-being of others persons.”
Defence lawyer Norm Williams suggested a long-term offender designation would suffice because his client could be successfully monitored within the community.
He said the man is willing to take whatever treatment is necessary, such as medication to reduce his sex drive, in order to control his sexual appetite.
Two forensic psychiatrists who testified at the dangerous offender hearing said pedophilia is a lifelong condition with no cure and that research has shown therapy is generally not effective.
One doctor who examined the defendant testified the man derived pleasure from inflicting pain and humiliating his sexual partners.
He called the man’s conduct “intrusive, protracted, coercive, physically harmful, callous, at times cruel, injurious and overshadowed by sadistic tones.” Overall, he found the man’s risk to those underage to be in the high range.
If a court rules a person a dangerous offender, they could be sentenced to jail for an indefinite period. Offenders can also be named long-term offenders, which means they could be sentenced to jail for two years or more and then be placed on a supervision order for up to 10 years.
The law is intended to protect the public from the most dangerous violent and sexual predators.