UNNAMED DAD gets a slap on the wrist; he will serve less time in prison than he did in making his daughter's life a living hell. Notice that we see yet another father who tried to blame the charges on a vengeful mother. Of course any protective mother will try to leave the father when child sexual abuse is disclosed; only the fathers rights crowd has now used this common sense notion to smear moms and strip them of custody.
http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3495477
Father convicted of incest with daughter
By NEIL BOWEN, The Observer
Posted 2 hours ago
A Lambton County man who sexually abused his daughter for 10 years has been sentenced to six years in prison.
The 39-year-old man was convicted of multiple sex offences including incest and sexual assault and was sentenced Wednesday following a Superior Court trial that ended in November.
The abuse began with fondling in the family home when the girl was five and escalated over 10 years to oral sex and intercourse. The abuse ended in 2007.
It was the “highest breach of trust” for a man who should have been the girl’s protector and caregiver, said assistant Crown attorney Randy Evans, who sought a penitentiary sentence of eight years.
The negative impact of the abuse was indicated in a victim-impact statement filed with the the court.
The girl testified that she would always do as her father told her. In one instance, sex took place in the back seat of a car during a ride home from her part-time job, she said.
“I would keep my mouth shut. I was scared to say anything,” the girl said during the trial.
The man denied all the allegations, saying, “I never did this.”
He claimed the girl and her mother fabricated the story of abuse after the couple separated. The women denied they were motivated by anger when the allegations were made following the separation.
Following his arrest, the man gave a statement to police that Justice Joseph Donohue ruled as voluntary.
In the statement the man said a police officer’s suggestion that he had sex with his daughter 20 to 50 times was excessive. He said he only received oral sex from his daughter once.
The man testified he felt pressured by the officer to provide the statement, but could give no explanation for what he’d said.
False confessions do occur, defence lawyer Ken Marley said in his final trial submissions.
The man’s statement was an admission, Evans said in his final submission.
The allegations are the worst thing that can be said of a father and called for an immediate and clear denial, but none was given in the statement, he said.
In convicting the man Donohue said his testimony wasn’t believable, while the girl was a credible witness whose words had the ring of truth.
Deterrence was the primary sentencing concern because a child is a precious trust bestowed on a parent, and the man’s abuse was a flagrant breach of it, Donohue said.
The six-year jail sentence includes a year of pre-sentence custody.
A 10-year weapons ban was imposed and the man must give police a DNA sample. He will be on the sexual-offender registry for life.
A court order designed to protect the victim prohibits publication of the girl’s identity, which in this case prevents publication of the man’s identity.