North Van father jailed more than 6 years for sexually abusing daughters

A North Vancouver father who sexually abused his teenaged daughters over a period of two years has been sent to jail for six and a half years.

Judge Joanne Challenger handed down the sentence in North Vancouver provincial court April 22 after the 54-year-old man pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual interference.

The man cannot be named in order to protect his daughters, whose names are shielded by publication ban.

Court heard the father began sexually abusing one of his daughters when she was a young teenager, both during the daytime when nobody else was home and at night, when he came into her bedroom.

The girl didn’t know at the time that her father was also sexually abusing her younger sister, said Crown prosecutor Jason Krupa.

The man sexually abused the second daughter when she was still in elementary school.

Eventually she confided in a friend when she was 13.

Krupa described the abuse as “the most extreme end of abuse of trust. If anyone is charged with protecting a child, it is their parent,” he said.

In a victim impact statement, a relative of the victims described the two young women as “struggling and suffering immense pain,” and unable to speak about what they had endured.

Both are suffering anxiety and depression, she said.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the father had a traumatic childhood and was using alcohol and drugs – including crystal meth – at the time of the offences, and “does not have a clear memory of the events.”

He feels highly remorseful and “deep shame” for what he has done, according to that statement.

In handing down her sentence, Challenger said she accepted that the father has attended many counselling sessions and presents a low risk to re-offend.

A significant jail sentence is needed, however, to denounce the man’s conduct, she said.

“There is no way to express the revulsion that such conduct gives rise to in our society at large,” said the judge, adding, “There is nothing this court can do to provide any relief for the victims or the family. They will continue to face challenges throughout their lives.”

The judge placed the father on the sexual offender registry. He has also been ordered not to have any contact with his victims and not to work or volunteer with people under 16 or be in public places where they are likely to be present for a period of 10 years.