On the New Year’s Eve she was 13, her 64-year-old sexual abuser told his adopted daughter, “the devil made him do it.”
The man, now 68, is identified only by initials in a recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision sentencing him to nine years in prison for sexually abusing his adopted daughter and a family friend.
“He told (his adopted daughter) that they would have to stop. He said that he felt guilty, was sorry for loving her in that way, and that the devil made him do it and that he had asked God for forgiveness,” Justice Jocelyn Speyer wrote in a May 22 decision.
“A short while later, (he touched her) in a sexual manner again. After that, (she) realized that it was not going to stop, and told her older brother … what happened. Other family members became involved, and the police were contacted.”
The abuser immigrated to Canada in 2002 with his wife and three children. He became a Canadian citizen and adopted several Zimbabwean and Botswanan orphans, including the one he sexually abused.
“In her victim impact statement, (she) eloquently describes how her childhood was stolen from her,” Speyer said.
“She was a child not fully aware of what was happening in the moment. She has experienced shame, anger, self-blame, numbness, anxiety, depression, betrayal, confusion and suicidal thoughts. Instead of learning what healthy love is like, she learned to associate love, as expressed to her by (her adoptive father), with fear, secrecy and silence. In her incredibly articulate victim impact statement, (she) revealed that the abuse did not just harm her body. It changed the way that she understands trust, and her ability to feel safe.”
Her adoptive father abused the girl between October 2018 and December 2022.
“At the time, (she) was between nine and thirteen years old,” Speyer said.
He touched her “in a variety of ways that amounted to an egregious violation of her sexual integrity.”
His wife helped the family of the other girl he sexually abused find a place to live when they immigrated to Canada. The court heard he was “like a grandfather” to the family’s daughter, and she addressed him as such.”It was customary for her to hug him as a form of greeting when the families visited together,” said the judge.
“He was in the position of father to (one victim and grandfather to the other) and took advantage of his time alone with them when they were in his care.”
He abused the family friend, starting when she was seven or eight, between 2017 and 2021.
The court heard that “on many occasions, usually when he greeted her when she went to his house, (he hugged her) and kissed her with an open mouth, forcing his tongue into her mouth. This behaviour started when (she) was seven or eight years old. If (she) tried to keep her mouth shut, (he) would push through to get his tongue into her mouth,” said the decision, which notes he also once “touched her buttock and squished or groped it.”
Police charged him in 2023.
A jury convicted him of sexually abusing the girls when he was between the ages of 60 and 64.
The Crown recommended he get 12 years in prison. His lawyer argued for seven.
Speyer sentenced him to eight years behind bars for abusing his adopted daughter, and tacked on another year for the family friend.
He’s banned from contacting either victim.
The judge found that the man poses a danger to children when he is in a position of trust. She issued several decade-long prohibitions aimed at protecting children under 16.
Those include bans on: “attending a public park or public swimming area, or a daycare centre, schoolground, playground or community centre, in the company of any grandchildren, except when he is in the direct company of an adult who is aware of the circumstance of his conditions.”
The man cannot be within two kilometres of anywhere the victims usually live, attend school or anywhere else he knows they typically frequent.
He is prohibited from working or volunteering in any position that involves having authority over children under the age of 16.
The man “abused a position of utmost trust,” said the judge.
“He breached his duty to protect and care for the victims and this enhances his moral blameworthiness.”
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