Porn-addicted father imprisoned for assaults on daughters

We know he is not an evil man. He is sick and needs help.

A pornography addiction may have been the red flag for a rural Saskatchewan man who started abusing his young daughters without empathy.

Even though they would cry and say “no,” the man told police he wanted “to have that pleasure and didn’t have the insight to stop himself,” a Saskatoon provincial courtroom heard.

The offender, who cannot be identified because it would reveal the identity of his victims, turned himself in to police after his oldest daughter told his wife that “Daddy likes to lick my bum.”

At first, the 44-year-old denied the allegations. Four days later, he confessed to anally and orally penetrating his two- and three-yearold adopted daughters between 20 and 30 times, starting when the youngest was approximately four months old. The man almost immediately pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference that took place between Jan. 1, 2017 and May 11, 2018. On Friday, he told Judge Doug Agnew that he was ready to tell the truth and get treatment.

Court heard the man had been living a double life of an accomplished health-care professional and loving father, and a selfish addict controlled by lust.

“Women, and eventually my girls, became faceless,” the man said in court before he was sentenced to six years in prison. “Eventually, I crossed the last line.”

Some of the abuse took place while his wife and two adopted sons were home.

“(Our girls) will never know the innocence they are entitled to,” the man’s wife wrote in her victim impact statement.

Despite their separation, the woman still wants her husband to have contact with his family, court heard. She indicated she does not consider the man to be a threat. A pre-sentence report deemed him as a low-risk to reoffend.

“We know he is not an evil man,” she said. “He is sick and needs help.”

Although his wife knew the man was getting treatment for an “adult pornography addiction,” the abuse still came as an “absolute shock,” to her, Crown prosecutor Tamara Rock said.

The multiple young victims, the perpetrator’s position of trust, the “high degree of violation,” the multiple assaults and level of premeditation warrant a six-year sentence, she argued.

The girls may not remember the abuse, but someday their mother will have to explain to them why their father is no longer in their life, Rock pointed out.

She said the man had no prior criminal record and appeared to be an “upstanding citizen” — making the offences that much more incomprehensible.

But the offender was also sexually abused by several relatives as a child, defence lawyer Patrick McDougall revealed.

He argued for a three-year sentence, saying his client has a debilitating addiction that became so overwhelming he would either start watching porn on his work computer or touch his children.

“To my girls: I can’t tell you how sorry I am for not protecting you like a father, and that you became the aim of my addiction,” the man said, reading from a letter.

Agnew ruled that in this case, the sentence must reflect denunciation and deterrence over rehabilitation. He also ordered that for five years after the man’s release, he cannot be around children unless supervised by someone who is aware of his conviction. The man will also be on the sex offender registry for life