ST. THOMAS, Ont. — A man who sexually abused his four-year-old daughter live on the Internet for the gratification of another man was sentenced Thursday to four years in a case the judge called a “sickening” breach of trust. The 35-year-old man from St. Thomas, Ont., was arrested on Oct. 29, 2006, just hours after he used a webcam to expose his daughter to a man — who was actually an undercover police officer — during a chat room conversation.
The sentence means the man will serve another 20 months behind bars, in addition to the 14 months he has already spent in custody, and will then be on probation for three years.
The man, who can't be identified to protect the identity of his daughter, pleaded guilty in October to seven criminal charges.
In sentencing the man, Justice John McGarry called it a “gross case; a sickening case of breach of trust.”
“The victim will have this cloud over her head for the rest of her life. . .The images will always be out there,” he said.
“Words cannot describe what is found in those pictures. They are of a three- and four-year-old girl being used by her father for his own sexual gratification.”
Prosecutors believe this is the first case in which someone was caught sexually assaulting their own child live on the Internet.
Crown lawyers had been seeking a sentence of five years in prison in addition to time served, while the defence had called for just two more months.
In a victim impact statement read in court Wednesday by the Crown prosecutor, the man's wife called him a “cruel person” and said she would rather have learned her husband was dead than discover the truth about his “despicable” behaviour.
“How will my daughter develop and grow with the knowledge of what (he) did to her?” she said in the statement.
An agreed statement of fact entered into the record when the man pleaded guilty to the charges shows he sexually assaulted his daughter in the bathtub and took pictures of her genitals in January 2006, several months before the October chat room discussion.
He was arrested the same day the chat took place after he exposed his daughter in front of a webcam and transmitted three images to the officer.
A transcript of the online chat with the undercover officer was read into the record.
“Wow ... who is it?” the officer writes after viewing a picture the man sent during the web chat.
“My four-year old,” the man replies.
When the officer asked if the pictures are really of his daughter, the man replies: “Yup, she's upstairs right now asking if I can give her a bath. ... I can prove it if you like.”
Court heard the girl, when asked about the assault, said, “The policemen put handcuffs on daddy so he wouldn't touch me.”
“I don't think I'll call him daddy anymore,” she's quoted as saying in a report filed by a psychologist.
Defence lawyer Bob Upsdell told court Wednesday his client has been physically assaulted twice while behind bars, and has lost 130 pounds since his arrest.
The man is one of 82 men arrested worldwide as a result of a global police operation dubbed Project Wickerman, which began with the arrest of an Edmonton man.
The sentence means the man will serve another 20 months behind bars, in addition to the 14 months he has already spent in custody, and will then be on probation for three years.
The man, who can't be identified to protect the identity of his daughter, pleaded guilty in October to seven criminal charges.
In sentencing the man, Justice John McGarry called it a “gross case; a sickening case of breach of trust.”
“The victim will have this cloud over her head for the rest of her life. . .The images will always be out there,” he said.
“Words cannot describe what is found in those pictures. They are of a three- and four-year-old girl being used by her father for his own sexual gratification.”
Prosecutors believe this is the first case in which someone was caught sexually assaulting their own child live on the Internet.
Crown lawyers had been seeking a sentence of five years in prison in addition to time served, while the defence had called for just two more months.
In a victim impact statement read in court Wednesday by the Crown prosecutor, the man's wife called him a “cruel person” and said she would rather have learned her husband was dead than discover the truth about his “despicable” behaviour.
“How will my daughter develop and grow with the knowledge of what (he) did to her?” she said in the statement.
An agreed statement of fact entered into the record when the man pleaded guilty to the charges shows he sexually assaulted his daughter in the bathtub and took pictures of her genitals in January 2006, several months before the October chat room discussion.
He was arrested the same day the chat took place after he exposed his daughter in front of a webcam and transmitted three images to the officer.
A transcript of the online chat with the undercover officer was read into the record.
“Wow ... who is it?” the officer writes after viewing a picture the man sent during the web chat.
“My four-year old,” the man replies.
When the officer asked if the pictures are really of his daughter, the man replies: “Yup, she's upstairs right now asking if I can give her a bath. ... I can prove it if you like.”
Court heard the girl, when asked about the assault, said, “The policemen put handcuffs on daddy so he wouldn't touch me.”
“I don't think I'll call him daddy anymore,” she's quoted as saying in a report filed by a psychologist.
Defence lawyer Bob Upsdell told court Wednesday his client has been physically assaulted twice while behind bars, and has lost 130 pounds since his arrest.
The man is one of 82 men arrested worldwide as a result of a global police operation dubbed Project Wickerman, which began with the arrest of an Edmonton man.