A 38-year-old father, convicted of forcing his eldest daughter to send him pornographic Snapchat images, was sent to the penitentiary when he was sentenced in Ontario Court recently.
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The Brantford man, who can’t be named as it would identify his daughter, denied his crimes but was found guilty after trial of child luring, invitation to sexual touching and accessing, possessing and making child pornography.
“Why did you hurt me?” asking his weeping daughter as she read a victim impact statement into the court record.
“You used fear, manipulation and anger to create a submissive daughter, to the point where I now fear any time when I tell someone ‘No’.”
The man’s arrest in 2022 caused a family rift, said the victim and threw her into a time of depression and therapy.
“You crushed me down to the point I was nothing. I have now been sober and free from self-harm for one year and seven months but it doesn’t mean I don’t hurt every day.”
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The young woman said she resisted excusing her father for his actions, until realizing the only way she would heal herself was to forgive him.
“Heal yourself and become a better man,” she said.
For about a year-and-a-half when the girl was a young teen, her father ordered her to make multiple videos or photos of her naked body and sent them to him over Snapchat, an app that dissolves messages and images after they’ re viewed.
“These are horrific offenses against, not just a child, but his own biological daughter,” said assistant Crown attorney Anthony Minelli.
While the father never touched the girl in person, the acts wrought serious “emotional and psychological harm” on her that was both short-term and long-term, said Minelli.
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“It is the sexual abuse of a child in images resulting in a stolen childhood that tore her family apart.”
The Crown asked the judge to consider a six-year sentence for the five convictions.
But defense lawyer Dale Henderson suggested a two-year sentence was more appropriate based on the fact his client was dealing with mental health issues, never touched the teen sexually, and there was no evidence he ever saved or shared the images.
“There was no evidence his behavior was escalating and no evidence he was doing more than satisfying his own needs,” said Henderson.
“He was objectifying his own daughter for his own purposes,” said Justice Robert Gee.
“There’s harmony in that alone. You don’t have to distribute the images.”
In his decision, Gee said the man’s behavior was “beyond the pale” and a “profound breach of trust.”
“She’ll never be the same. You’ve stolen her childhood from her,” said the judge.
“The only saving grace is there’s no evidence the images still exist anywhere.”
Gee registered all five offenses as convictions and said the three-and-a-half year sentence included posting the man on the sexual offenders registry for the rest of his life.
@EXPSGamble
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