COURTS: A 39-year-old man who molested his biological daughter for years beginning at age seven, and another relative, will be sentenced April 8
She asked the question that haunts her every day.
"Who does daddy's little girl trust when she can't trust daddy?" the 18-year-old woman wrote in a victim impact statement read in the Superior Court of Justice on Wednesday.
Her 39-year old father, bald and wearing glasses, who had sexual intercourse with her for years, sat blankly in the prisoner's box while lawyers argued about how long he's to spend in prison.
A jury convicted him in January of 14 charges that included incest, sexual assault and sexual interference of his biological daughter, voyeurism for watching females use bathrooms in his former residences in St. Thomas, London and Port Stanley, and making child pornography.
The two-week trial was wrenching -- among the evidence the jury saw and heard, were bathroom videotapes and some of the child porn in the man's collection. Some jurors asked for counselling at the end of the case because the images they saw were so disturbing.
At Wednesday's hearing, Justice Dougald McDermid asked if the man, who repaired small engines for a living, had anything to say.
"I would like to take this time and apologize to the court, the people I have hurt, my family and friends for the mistakes I have made," he said, his voice breaking with a small sob.
"The mistakes I made ruined the trust and beliefs these people had in me."
There'd been some distinct changes in his attitude since his not-guilty pleas in January. In a pre-sentence report to the court Wednesday, the man told a probation officer he was "a sex addict" and wanted to apologize for what he'd done.
He told the probation officer he wanted to re-establish a relationship with his daughter to apologize to her. He also requested sex offender rehabilitation.
It was clear damage had been done to his victims.
Two victim impact statements, one from his daughter and one from a female relative who'd been his roommate, were read by assistant Crown attorney Elizabeth Maguire.
The young woman, whose identity is protected by court order, wrote about sleepless nights, no self-esteem, anxiety attacks and "nightmares about my father chasing me."
"I'm afraid of bathrooms. Holes in walls upset me," she wrote.
She's afraid to leave her home and fears wearing clothes that show any skin and "men in general."
"I feel so apart or alone from everyone -- crying all the time, nausea, headaches. I also don't really sleep, can barely eat."
"He made it so trust is very difficult."
Since she came forward to police at 16, the daughter, who was sexually assaulted by her father starting at age 7, has been abandoned by her father's family. Maguire said the girl was sent a message on Facebook from one relative that told her she should have been aborted.
The female relative said what happened to her and other females, including her own daughter, who used the bathrooms, "makes my skin crawl and makes me sick to my stomach with disgust."
She's angry a family member took advantage of her. "This has been a shocking, rude awakening that has stripped us of any trust. Never will we trust again."
Defence lawyer Robert Upsdell suggested five to six years in prison, minus time already spent in custody.
The 18 months would be counted as a two-for-one credit, or 36 months, shaving the sentence down to two to three years.
He pointed out the man has been in protective custody at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, much of it spent in his cell.
Any sentence imposed would be "crushing." he said.
Maguire asked for 10 years on top of the man's pre-sentence custody.
She said the sexual assaults on the daughter alone were enough for a long prison sentence. Add in the voyeurism and the child porn collection that included hundreds of images and videos the police reviewed of the thousands stored on the man's computer, Maguire said, and the sentence should be in double-digit range.
The man said in his statement he wanted counselling McDermid reserved his sentencing decision until April 8.
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