A man who sexually assaulted his two of his daughters was given an eight-year jail term Friday in provincial court in St. John’s.
The man, from the Northeast Avalon — whose name and address cannot be published to protect the names of the victims — had pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault.
In handing down his decision, Judge Greg Brown gave the man the customary two-for-one credit for the six months he has already served in custody, leaving seven years left on his sentence.
The judge also ordered the man be listed on the national sex offenders registry for 20 years and that he supply a DNA sample. He’s also banned from possessing firearms for 10 years.
The daughters reported the abuse to police in May. They said their father began sexually assaulting them when they were each around nine years old.
In both cases, the abuse started as touching and digital penetration and escalated into intercourse when they each turned 12 years old.
The older daughter said her father didn’t stop abusing her until she was 15 years old, when she moved out with her boyfriend’s family.
The younger daughter was sexually assaulted right up until around Valentine’s Day of this year.
The teen told police the assaults would happen at night when everyone was asleep, or in the day when no one was home. Her main concern was that she would get pregnant, but her father told her he had a vasectomy.
She reported the assaults would last about a minute, “but seemed like hours.” She said they would both be naked.
“I have to say,” Brown said, “given (the girls’) ages, it seems to me that this is bordering on pedophilia.”
Her father often told her that if she did not have sex with him, he would “go after” and have sex with her sister, who is now 12 years old.
The judge saw that threat as a particularly aggravating factor.
When the man was confronted by police, he initially denied abusing the girls. He later admitted it and, during the sentencing hearing, delivered an emotional apology.
“While he showed remorse, until he was caught, he did not,” Brown pointed out.