Sexual offender: ‘It’s been eating me up like cancer’

A Norfolk man who molested his young step-daughter several decades ago, confessed immediately to police when they began an investigation into his behavior in 2022.

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“When I talked to the police, I had to get it off my chest,” the crying man told an Ontario Court judge recently as he was sentenced to prison.

“It’s been eating me up like cancer for years. I had to get it out.”

The man, who can’t be named as it would identify his victim, made a full confession and entered psychotherapy, taking extensive counseling for more than a year

“I’m a good person who made bad choices,” the now 61-year-old told Justice Colette Good. “I don’t know why. Have mercy on me.”

In court, the man pleaded guilty to sexual assault, sexual exploitation and sexual interference.

The man’s lawyer, Shawn Swarts, said after his client was charged, he and his current wife isolated themselves from society and stayed home.

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The man seriously considered suicide but “to be fair to his wife, opted not to take the easy way out” said Swarts.

“He deeply regrets his actions toward this girl he viewed as his little daughter,” Swarts said, noting that the impact on the now grown woman, has been significant.

The judge was told that the man’s actions never progressed to intercourse but he groped and fondled the girl and, once, digitally penetrated her.

“She is a strong woman and has gone past any shame she initially felt and is learning to address her underlying issues, but still struggling.”

Swarts said the revelations of abuse destroyed the man’s relationship with both his step-daughter and her brother and deeply affected his relationship with his current wife’s children.

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The lawyer suggested the judge could show leniency with a sentence of two to three years in prison.

But assistant Crown attorney Gracie Romano said a four-year sentence would be more appropriate, considering the breach of trust involved in the offenses.

Justice Good noted the offenses were spread over a 20-year period and involved “some level of force” at times.

“You were supposed to love and support your daughter and not abuse her,” she told the man.

“These crimes breached the trust a father and daughter should have. They robbed her of her childhood, will continue to impact her for the foreseeable future and created a rift within your family unit.”

Good acknowledged the man was remorseful and trying to find the answers to his behavior, which ended almost 20 years ago.

“That tells me there’s some hope for your rehabilitative prospects.”

The man was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to submit a sample of his DNA and remain on the sexual offenders registry for the rest of his life.

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