Father found guilty of sexually assaulting his own sons

The victims’ mother told NanaimoNewsNOW she was relieved to hear the judgment, saying the offender caused unspeakable damage to her children.

“In my world he would be in a room and he’d be tortured daily. I’m not kidding, daily until he dies or wants to die himself.”

She said her sons are both in counselling, with the younger one suffering the most severe trauma.

“He goes beserk, he’s on medication to try to control his moods…he threatens to kill people, threatens to kill himself, he gets really upset. He just completely goes off the wall,” the woman said.

She hopes her ex husband is never allowed to be put in a position of trust over children ever again.

“That’s three kids he’s abused, are you kidding me? Who knows if there’s more, there could be for all we know.”

While he wasn’t the greatest father, the mother said there was no indication at all he was capable of what transpired years ago.

She and her mother welled up in tears as judge Saunders’ 45 minute ruling concluded in provincial court. The offender attended the hearing over the phone from jail and was audibly distraught with the outcome.

He flatly denied the allegations when he testified, while his lawyer Peter Hertzberg contended the boys were either mistaken, lying or making up the abuse.

Judge Saunders didn’t see it that way.

“It is inconceivable that they would make up the amount of detail of events which occurred years earlier when they were much younger and use it to make fabricated allegations.”

The abuse happened during separate occasions between 2013 and 2016 while the mother was either sleeping in or out of town for medical reasons.

Peripheral details provided by the boys of where the abuse occurred were consistent with reality and corroborated by both parents.

Judge Saunders said there was no reason for the boys to make up the abuse, pointing to no family animosity or marital issues at the time.

The trial heard the boys spoke up about what happened during a 2018 car ride after their father was removed from the home for serious allegations, including abuse of another child.

Judge Saunders said the boys used language of what happened to them which lines up with descriptions children of their age would use.

“They likely did not even know what it was at the time other than something unpleasant or painful,” judge Saunders said.

Crown prosecutor Caroline Narroway stated during the trial the descriptions of the abuse weren’t typical imaginations of children.

The court found the abuse to the older brother included squeezed genitals and his father lying on top of him while both were naked when the boy was 3-years-old.

The court found the younger boy was victimized when he was between two and four-years-old.

The father pulled his pants down and touched his genitals and also attempted penetrative acts, court determined.

Both boys reported their father told them not to tell their mother.

Judge Saunders ordered a pre-sentence report for the man, along with a psychological report and risk assessment.

The offender abused his sons several years before offences occurred involving a minor in the Nanaimo area.

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On Twitter: @reporterholmes

by Ian Holmes

Father found guilty of sexually assaulting his own sons

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