Six and a half years for sexual abuse of granddaughters

February 27, 2020, 11:11 am
Rob Paul, LJI Reporter

An Ochapowace man has been sentenced to six and a half years in a federal penitentiary for sexually abusing two of his young grandchildren.

He had pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Broadview provincial court Wednesday.

The man is 67 years old. He will not be named to protect the identities of the two young girls he sexually assaulted, who are his granddaughters.

Along with the six-and-a-half-year sentence, the man must provide a DNA sample to the RCMP and register as a sex offender.

Additionally, the court ordered he can’t have contact with the victims while in custody, cannot be in the areas children populate for life (schools, playgrounds, community centres, etc.), and has a lifetime firearms ban.

He was originally taken into custody in March of 2019 for the offenses.

The man was the primary caregiver to his two granddaughters after their mother’s death.

He blamed alcohol and the abuse he suffered for his actions.

The defence lawyer stated that his client attempted to go through rehabilitation multiple times, but failed.

The man left home at 16 due to physical abuse from his parents. He has a grade six education. He has multiple children and has lost three of them, including the mother of the victims.

Due to the sexual abuse, the granddaughters have been put in foster care. The girls continue to deal with trauma, according to their foster parents.

The judge said in explaining his sentencing decision that the children have shown suicidal tendencies and have turned to drug use as a result of the trauma of their abuse, that they have been been isolated by the community because of the sexual abuse and have dealt with constant nightmares. echo

The judge also stated that the perpetrator abused a position of trust as the children’s grandfather. He said that both being “well under” 18 years old is an aggravating factor and the incidents had “a significant effect on the victims.”

The sentencing took into account the man’s guilty plea, his age, his limited record, his parents having experienced residential schools, and the abuse he suffered.

The courtroom was fairly full for the sentencing as many citizens from the Broadview community were in attendance at court on Wednesday, along with members of the Ochapowace community.

Because of the man’s guilty plea, the children didn’t have to testify.

When asked by the judge if he had anything to say before the sentence was pronounced, the man said through his lawyer that he had nothing to say to the court.