P.E.I. man sentenced to spend 7 years in prison for incest apologizes to daughter
Court heard sexual encounter with man's daughter resulted in child being born
WARNING: This story contains details readers may find disturbing.
A Prince Edward Island man in his late 50s will spend the next seven years in a federal prison, having pleaded guilty to an incest charge after a sexual encounter with his own daughter resulted in the birth of a child.
The man was sentenced in Georgetown Provincial Court on Thursday.
CBC News is not naming the man or giving details of the timing and location of the crime to avoid identifying the two victims: his daughter, and the child she had.
On Thursday, the court heard the woman has had minimal involvement with the legal system since the charge was laid, and did not wish to be involved despite attempts to contact her from Victim Services and Probation Services officials, who prepared her father's pre-sentence report.
"She's living in the community and trying to basically survive," Crown prosecutor John Diamond told the court, adding that she wants to put what happened behind her.
Judge Nancy Orr agreed that was understandable given the circumstances.
Genetic testing flagged parental links
The court heard that the victim never reported anything to police. The facts began to emerge when she took her child to see a doctor due to some medical concerns she had.
Genetic testing showed a high probability that the child's parents were immediate relatives. This was reported to the RCMP by Child and Family Services, and then the victim gave a statement to police.
"Her father had sex with her … when she was 18," the Crown's submitted documents said. "As a result of the sexual encounter, she became pregnant and gave birth."
The court heard that while the accused man said the encounter was consensual, his daughter did not agree with that. She had a boyfriend at the time of her pregnancy, so the paternity was not questioned at the time.
None of this was tested in court.
The man was previously charged with sexual assault over the case, but that charge was stayed to avoid the difficulty of a trial on the victim, given that the issue of consent would have to be tested by testimony and cross-examination.
However, Diamond told the court there is no requirement to prove lack of consent on the incest charge for which the accused was willing to plead guilty.
The Crown prosecutor characterized the incident as highly aggravating given the family relationship and the vulnerability of the victim. Diamond himself got emotional when talking about a father's duty to protect his daughter, not coerce her.
"I'm the father of a daughter and the thought of this type of offence goes to my core," he said.
"I don't think this could be any more severe… It shows that incest occurs in this province. It's a socially disturbing fact of life, but it occurs."
Diamond asked the judge to sentence the man to seven years in federal prison, where he could get the help he clearly needed for his high-end sexual deviancy, but did not rule out that a 10-12 year sentence could also be appropriate due to the pregnancy.
Apologizes to court, daughter
The man's legal aid lawyer, Conor Mullin, asked for a sentence of five to seven years. He spoke about the man's "tragic" childhood, which the man himself described as "rotten" during his meetings with a probation officer.
The court heard he was abandoned by his mother as a child, which caused him to have a negative attitude toward women. He went on to be in the care of the province, moving to at least three different foster homes over the course of his youth.
The man has a criminal record that does not include any sex offences until now. He has struggled with his mental health and has previously attempted suicide.
He has fathered seven children and has no contact with any of them. The victim never knew her father until her late teens, and her mother had described him as "a dangerous person."
"I'd like to apologize to the court for what I have done," the man said when given his chance to speak. "I'd like to apologize to my daughter for everything I have done."
Best that child never knows: judge
In sentencing him to seven years, Orr questioned whether the man truly appreciated the severity of what he had done, and how it would impact his daughter, the child they had together, and any future offspring that child has.
"It was her father who abused her," Orr said, adding that she agreed with Diamond's assessment that there were really two victims here, the second literally born from the crime.
She told the man that not only were his actions socially inappropriate, but also that there were genetic and medical reasons for society's abhorrence of this crime, since children born from incest often have "significant health issues," as this child now does.
Orr suggested the child was not aware who their real father was, and it's likely best if they never know.
She ordered the man to have no contact with either victim for the next 20 years.
He will be placed on the National Sex Offender Registry when he leaves prison, and won't be able to own weapons. He will also have to provide a sample of his DNA to a national databank.
"These are very difficult matters," Orr said in conclusion.
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