Man sent to prison for sexual assault of young daughter

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on November 24, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge man who sexually assaulted his four-year-old daughter nearly six years ago has been sent to a federal penitentiary.
The 31-year-old man, who can’t be named to protect the identity of his daughter, was sentenced Tuesday in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench to seven years in prison; five years for sexual interference, and two years for making child pornography.
According to an agreed statement of facts, the father, who pleaded guilty to the charges last May, gave his daughter a drink of Sleepytime chamomile tea plus three to five milligrams of melatonin. He and his ex-common-law spouse – who is not the girl’s biological mother – then sexually assaulted the child while she was passed out, and made a video recording of the assault.
After he was arrested several years later, the man confessed to police and told them he did it to blackmail his spouse so she wouldn’t leave him.
“If she left me, I was going to come to the police with the video,” he told police in his statement.
His ex-spouse told police the offender forced her into the room where the little girl was sleeping and where he began assaulting her. When police showed her a forensic report indicating she was seen in the video taking part in the assault, as well, she said she didn’t have a choice.
“I know that just before that, he told me that if I didn’t do it, he would hurt me,” said said in her statement. “That was my main concern.”
The woman pleaded not guilty to her charges and stood trial earlier this year. A judge is expected to give his decision next month.
The assault, which took place in February 2016, was not discovered until Feb. 6, 2020, after a man bought a storage locker in Lethbridge and found an SD memory card and USB drive. He discovered on the SD card numerous images and videos, including a video of the sexual assault. He took the USB to the police, who conducted a forensic examination of the SD card and were able to identify the offenders.
On May 28 of last year two police officers arrested the man at his southside home.
Crown Prosecutor Carolyn Ayre told court the little girl was not physically injured during the assault, and does not have a memory of it because she was given sleeping pills. But future psychological harm is possible.
“She was treated like an object, a sexual object,” Ayre said.
Ayre noted the man was also abused as a child, and suffers from several disorders, including a sexual disorder, but his moral blameworthiness is high. He is also considered dangerous to children and deemed a high risk to re-offend once he is released from prison.
Lethbridge lawyer Scott Hadford said he hopes his client can be rehabilitated during his incarceration, andÂ asked the judge to recommend the man serve his sentence at the Bowden Institution in Alberta. He said there isÂ less chance of his client being attacked by other inmates at Bowden, and there areÂ programs aimed at rehabilitation, which will help him after he is re-introduced into society.
“He’s got a lot of life to live,” Hadford pointed out.
Judge Dallas Miller referred to a psychological report that concludes even though the offender does not meet the criteria for a psychopathic personality disorder, he does have a sexual deviance, despite his denials.
“He justified the sexual abuse of his daughter in that it was better done by him than by some creepy guy,” Miller quoted the report.
Miller agreed to recommend the man be sent to the Bowden Institution, but only if it provides the necessary rehabilitation and counseling as recommended by the report.
Although sentenced to seven years in prison, the man was given credit for time spent in pre-trial custody, reducing by two years the amount of time he will serve. He will also be registered with the Sex Offender Information Registry for life, and he must submit a sample of his DNA for the National DNA databank.