Eight-year sentence for man who lured stepdaughter into sexual assault

By Andrew Bates, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Telegraph-Journal

A Kings County-area man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for what a judge called a “major sexual assault” against his teen stepdaughter..

The 48-year-old man was sentenced Thursday last week to eight years less 15 months remand on charges of uttering threats and sexual touching against a girl under 16 dating to June 11, 2025. The man was accused of luring his stepdaughter into the woods and sexually assaulting her, Judge Lucie Mathurin told the court.

Brunswick News is not naming the defendant pursuant to a publication ban covering information that may identify the young girl.

The defendant previously pleaded not guilty and was set for trial in January, but pleaded guilty on the day of the trial to the two charges, with a third charge alleging sexual assault by choking withdrawn at sentencing. The Crown asked for eight years going forward, or nine including remand time, while the defence asked for two years plus probation, taking remand time into account.

The judge said on June 11, a family member received a phone call where the girl was crying out “for the accused not to do certain things,” and the police were called to her residence. Police said the girl was sexually assaulted, including penetration, and that she was held down and threatened. The girl was injured and was taken to hospital, where DNA samples were taken that were linked to the accused.

The man appeared by phone, with a victim impact statement read in court by the girl’s father.

The father said the impact of the assault on his daughter has been “heartbreaking to witness” as a parent, saying she was a “confident, happy young person,” but he has seen that “all dim in her eyes.”

“No other young child should have to go through what my daughter went through,” the father said, adding that the defendant took the girl’s “youth and innocence … but you did not break her.”

Crown prosecutor Michael Blackier told the judge that the man was the girl’s stepfather and was in a position of trust over the child. Blackier said the girl was “lured out into the woods on pretense of hauling garbage and sexually assaulted,” including penetration.

“The violation of her bodily integrity is clearly an issue here,” Blackier said, saying the victim was “a child then, and she still is.”

Blackier said sex acts aganst children have been recognized by the courts as one of the “most profoundly immoral acts a person can commit,” and said denunciation and deterrence were the most important principle in sentencing.

Regarding to an order keeping the defendant away from minors, he noted that the pre-sentence report depicts the the defendant “blaming her, in some respects.”

The man’s lawyer, Shanna Wicks, said it’s clear that “these are horrible facts, these are horrible offences.” She said from a “three-thousand foot view,” her client pleaded guilty and has expressed remorse during their conversations and in his plea.

She said that addictions issues factor in, and that unlike other cases, this was a single incident, not a series of incident over a period of years. She said that he has been using his time in custody to address his issues and has supports in the community, including his spouse, who was present in court.

Wicks said her client had 15 months of remand credit, and asked for two years going forward plus a lengthy probation term, recognizing his “positive steps” in provincial custody by keeping him there.

“The ultimate objective in these cases is none of us want to see this happen again,” Wicks said, saying his rehabilitation is the best way to ensure he does not end up back before the court.

The man has a “lengthy” criminal record, Mathurin said, with no previous sexual offences.

“I’m sorry for ruining my stepdaughter’s life,” the man told the court when asked. “I love her dearly, I just hope that she can find the help that she needs to move forward and hope that she can forgive me in time to come.”

That prompted an outburst from the girl’s family, with Mathurin saying she understood their frustration but asked them to allow her to continue.

Mathurin said the victim impact statements tell of physical and mental harm and “great emotional turmoil” for the young victim, as well as further impacts on her family.

She said that courts have addressed the “grave harm” caused by sexual assaults against children, and called this a “major sexual assault,” as recognized by the courts, resulting in both physical and emotional harm.

She listed other legal precedents, including cases which involved nine- and 10-year sentences when the offences covered a lengthy period of time.

The judge said rehabilitation was of “lesser import” compared to the principles of denunciation and deterrence.

“The offences are serious not only because the nature but because they have left a serious scar on the psyche of the victim,” Mathurin wrote, saying incarceration in this case is “inevitable.”

The sentence was eight years less 15 months of remand for the sexual interference charge, or six years, nine months, with a concurrent sentence for the threats, Mathurin said.

The man was subject to a no-contact order against the victim’s family, but while Mathurin said the order does not include his spouse, the judge warned that there is to be no indirect contact with the victim, or it’s “not going to go well.”

The defendant is also subject to an order to register under the Sex Offenders Information and Registration Act, an order to provide a DNA sample, a 10-year firearms ban, a 20-year no-contact order and a 20-year order preventing him from being at a place where minors may be present or having unsupervised contact with a minor.