This story contains depictions of sexual violence against a child. Reader discretion is advised.
A Kelowna man who sexually abused his own daughter has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, appeared in Kelowna court Monday for sentencing after pleading guilty to sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and making child pornography of his own daughter.
Police estimated the child was somewhere between one and four years old when the abuse occurred.
At a previous sentencing hearing, Crown prosecutor Catherine Gagnon sought a nine-year sentence for the three offences, while defence counsel Dave Johnson suggested a five-year prison sentence would be sufficient.
The father’s sexual offending was uncovered after his wife discovered his posts about incest fantasies on an online forum. When police seized his phone, they found images and a video of him sexually abusing his infant daughter on two separate occasions.
The abuse is believed to have occurred between 2020 and June 2022, when he was arrested. He was released from custody shortly after his arrest, and subsequently attempted suicide. He survived the attempt, and has remained out of custody since.
The child’s mother spoke at the sentencing hearing in November 2023.
“My baby was harmed and I will never excuse him for what he did, [my daughter] did not ask to be treated this way ... she was just listening to her beloved and trusted father, she didn't know she was experiencing abuse,” she said.
“You have selfishly and irrevocably changed her ... She will never be the person she was meant to be because you took that away from her, and in doing so, you took what she could have been away from me too ...You gave her a life sentence and she is supposed to be the innocent one.”
Crown prosecutor Gagnon said the father’s sexual abuse against his daughter was encouraged by others on the social media platform he’d been posting his incest fantasies to. In an interview for his pre sentence report, the father said he would have possibly continued the sexual abuse if he hadn’t been caught.
In addition to the eight-year prison term, Judge Andrew Tam also placed the father on the national sex offender registry for 20 years.
