A man who sexually assaulted two young children in Abbotsford has been sentenced to a seven-year jail term.
The man, who is identified in court documents by the initials M.R.E. to protect the identity of the victims, was convicted of three offences – two counts of sexual interference of a person under 16 and one count of invitation to sexual touching.
Two other charges of sexual assault were stayed at sentencing on Oct. 15 in Abbotsford provincial court.
The man, 33, was also given a 10-year weapons ban and must abide by certain conditions for five years, which include limiting his attendance at public places where kids under the age of 16 are expected to be present.
According to court documents, the victims were the daughters of a woman that M.R.E. was living with from 2016 to 2018.
One of the girls was between the ages of eight and 10 at the time of the offences, while the other was eight years old.
According to court documents, the girls did not live in the home but would come for overnight visits.
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After one of those visits, the younger daughter told her grandmother that M.R.E. had touched her in a sexual manner.
The matter was reported to police, and the girl told an officer that M.R.E. had awoken her in the middle of the night. After he assaulted her in the living room, he promised her that if she didn’t tell anyone, she would be able to play video games.
The older child also reported that M.R.E. had sexually assaulted her on numerous occasions – “almost every time she was there” (at her mom’s home).
The abuse took place in the living room when her mom was asleep or out of the home, the girl testified.
She said M.R.E. told her that what he was doing was illegal and he would get in trouble if she told anyone, the court documents indicate.
“She recalled that he promised to buy her a ‘screamer,’ which she described as a ‘slushie’ with ice cream, if she promised not to tell anyone what he was doing,” the documents state.
“She said that she would agree to do what he said because he would keep asking her and because she didn’t want him to hurt her or hurt anyone else in the family.”
The abuse was disclosed after the younger sister told their grandmother what had happened to her, and the grandmother then asked the older girl if M.R.E. had ever done anything to hurt or upset her.
Both girls testified at the trial via closed-circuit video.
Judge Kenneth Skilnick found the testimony of M.R.E. to be neither credible nor reliable compared to the evidence of the two girls.
“The evidence that I do accept is the evidence of the children that within the time set out in the information, (M.R.E.) intentionally supplied force to each of them in a sexual manner which violated their bodily integrity,” Skilnick stated.
M.R.E. was sentenced to seven years for two charges involving one sister, and three years for one charge involving the other, but the terms will be served concurrently.
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