A 38-year-old father who sexually touched his 10-year-old daughter has been sentenced to two years of probation.
During that time he cannot contact his daughter, who is in foster care. As well, he cannot be in the presence of children under 16 or visit places like parks and schoolyards where children are likely to be without another responsible adult. He must take treatment for sex offenders ordered by his probation officer. As well, he has a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew during the first three months of his probation.
In Sechelt provincial court Feb. 24, Crown prosecutor Trevor Cockfield said this case "cries out for a jail sentence" of six to nine months.
"This is an extreme breach of trust situation," said Cockfield, "especially considering [the father's] outrageous comments to the probation officer that he was essentially street-proofing her by sexually touching her."
The father was originally charged with both sexual assault and sexual interference with a person under 14. He later agreed to a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to only the sexual interference charge. However, said Cockfield, "this isn't the only time it's happened."
According to Cockfield, the girl said her father routinely asked if he could fondle her, although he would not force her if she refused. The girl said her father told her not to tell about this activity, adding, "If my dad gets in trouble, I will get in trouble my dad said I'm old enough to go to jail."
The father told police he touched his daughter in order to "satisfy her needs and desires." The man's lawyer, Lynn Chapman, said the man touched his daughter sexually on only one occasion, but the girl has also been assaulted by other people and thus was "sexualized inappropriately at a young age," which led to the incident with her father.
"This man has been punished most extremely. He lost custody of his daughter," said Chapman. "He regrets his actions."
The former Sunshine Coast man, now living with his mother in New Westminster, cannot be named because of a publication ban protecting the identity of his daughter, who shares the same last name.
