Judge jails man who photographed 10-year-old stepdaughter in lingerie before …

OTTAWA — A minor hockey league coach who took pictures of his 10-year-old stepdaughter modelling her mother’s lingerie before sexually abusing her was sentenced Thursday to 20 months in jail.

The sexual abuse began when the girl was eight years old and continued until she was 14 and involved “just about everything� short of intercourse, a Crown prosecutor told an Ottawa judge.

It began with the now 48-year-old man sneaking into the girl’s room and asking her to “play� or “cuddle� before fondling and French kissing her, said prosecutor John Ramsay. When she was 10, her stepfather had her dress up in her mother’s white stockings and lacy underwear and performed oral sex on her while they watched pornography together.

Sometimes he took photos of her in the underwear; other times she was naked and posing, Ramsay said.

On one occasion the stepfather sexually touched the girl while she lay in bed with a cousin; later that night, he took her to his son’s room where he sexually abused her some more.

The girl told her mother about the abuse in March 2011 while the two were talking about boys. The abuse had stopped the previous August when she asked him to stop, feeling guilty and as though she was cheating on her boyfriend.

The abuse has driven the victim to cut herself try and commit suicide three times in the past year, court heard. It has also shattered her trust in men and left her feeling like a “dirty whore.�

“I feel that love will never find me because I do not deserve it and that ultimately love will hurt me,� the victim wrote in a statement to the court.

Ontario Court Justice Robert Fournier told the man, who pleaded guilty to sexual interference, that his conduct was “reprehensible.�

“It has inflicted a whole lot of damage and injury, not just on this young person but on her family,� Fournier told the man, who can’t be identified to protect the identity of his stepdaughter.

Fournier said he was relieved a psychiatrist determined the man wasn’t a pedophile, and instead only “took leave of his senses� while drinking alcohol. He was also deemed a low risk to reoffend, and has since stopped drinking.

Fournier chastised the man — a former minor hockey coach — for inflicting “an awful lot of harm on a young, innocent person.�

“We’re concerned about broken souls, and we’re concerned about broken emotions,� said Fournier. “This young girl didn’t learn about sex the proper way and it is going to affect her for the rest of her life.�

The emotional stepfather whispered “I’m sorry� to his victim as he was led out of court by a pair of police officers.

The girl stared straight ahead.

Earlier, he addressed the court, telling his now 16-year-old stepdaughter that he was “sorry for everything I put you through.�

“I took advantage of your trust in me,� he said, assuring her the sexual abuse was not her fault. “You should never have had to deal with this.�

It wasn’t the first time the man had apologized, however.

Three years before the abuse came to light, he had been confronted by his wife after her daughter complained he was coming into her room. He said he was sorry and promised to change.

aseymour@ottawacitizen.com

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