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WARNING: This story references and contains details of child sexual assault.
Registered sex offender Daniel Senecal has pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including the sexual assault of a three-year-old girl in Welland, Ont., last year.
Senecal, 26, entered the pleas Tuesday in St. Catharines court, to charges of breaking and entering, aggravated sexual assault on a person under 16, sexual interference, assault by choking, failing to comply with probation and possessing child sexual abuse exploitation material.
Senecal was arrested on Aug. 31, 2025, after police were called to a home in Welland for “medical assistance call involving a child.”
Niagara police said at the time that officers noticed upon arrival “the front door to the residence showing signs of having been forced open.”
The identity of the girl is protected under a publication ban.
Senecal was known to the family
Justice David Andrew Thomas started Tuesday’s proceedings by commenting on the number of people in attendance, CBC Hamilton heard in a court audio recording.
The case has garnered widespread community outrage, and calls for harsher sentences for sex offenders and criminal justice reforms across the Niagara Region. Bikers and supporters of a far-right extremist group have also taken part and led rallies demanding justice for the girl, prompting police to warn against “vigilante actions.”
Since then, reforms to Canada’s bail and sentencing system have become law, receiving royal assent earlier this month. Bill C-14, the Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, amends the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the National Defence Act to tighten the bail and sentencing framework across all three.
At the Senecal hearing on Tuesday, the agreed statement of facts were read in court.
Assistant Crown attorney Todd Morris said Senecal had been residing in a basement apartment for a few months next to the building where the toddler was living.
Senecal was roommates with someone who babysat the girl and a friend of the child’s biological father, who was not living with the girl at the time of the assault.
Morris said Senecal met the girl’s mother when she was pregnant. Senecal was also known to the girl, who would say hi to him, and had been seen playing with her and her sister, said Morris.
On the evening of Aug. 30, Senecal had several drinks and, sometime between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. ET on Aug. 31, broke into the girl’s home, said Morris.
Senecal was arrested later that morning in the backyard of his residence, the Crown lawyer said.
Morris described in detail the multiple, severe injuries that were inflicted on the child, which were discovered by her mother the morning of Aug. 31.
He said that, after the assault, she was taken to McMaster Children’s Hospital, where medical staff identified the injuries as consistent with use of force and strangulation.
Previous child sexual assault conviction
In 2024, Senecal was found guilty of what Justice Janet Booy described as the “violent” sexual assault of a 12-year-old boy in 2021. He served jail time and was released early in March 2025. He was also added to the National Sex Offender Registry for 20 years.
Senecal was on probation at the time of his crimes in August 2025.
Senecal had also been accused of assault in 2020, but the charges were withdrawn. In 2021, he was charged with mischief after damaging a surveillance camera at a Niagara Falls motel with a pellet gun.
Senecal’s sentencing date in the Welland case will be set after a Gardiner hearing possibly in late July, if needed. Gardiner hearings are where evidence is presented to the judge on any aggravating or mitigating facts that the Crown and defence don’t agree on.
While a Facebook page believed to be that of the accused last year used the name “Dani Senecal” and the pronouns “she/her,” during the court process, including this week, Senecal was referred to as “Daniel Senecal” and court staff used he/him pronouns.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database.
