An Alberta father was sentenced to 23½ years in prison for ‘twisted and evil’ sex abuse against his daughters. The parole board says he remains unrepentant

Warning: This story deals with child sexual abuse and contains disturbing details. 

An Alberta man serving one of the longest sexual abuse sentences in Canadian history for molesting his daughters has made next to no progress reforming himself in prison and has expressed an urge to “reunite” with his family upon release, the Parole Board of Canada says.

The parole board last month denied early release to the man, who cannot be named under a publication ban to protect the identities of his victims. He continues to hold “delusional” beliefs and insists he is “not at all ashamed” of his crimes, which include watching men he met on the internet rape his daughter, the parole board said.

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The accused also expressed a desire to one day rejoin his family — whom he referred to as “hostages” — in violation of a no-contact order.

“The board finds that, given your professed desire to ‘rescue hostages,’ you will almost certainly breach any release conditions that it would impose on you to protect victims,” it told the offender. “You persist in your erroneous and harmful belief that you can resume your relationships with the victims, whom you call your ‘wives,’ as though nothing happened.”

The man, who lived with his family on a compound outside Evansburg, was sentenced to 23½ years in prison in September 2019.

The parole board says he continues to hold “extremist” beliefs influenced by conspiracy theories and his warped understanding of the Christian faith.

‘Twisted and evil’

Court heard the man isolated his three daughters, taking them out of school and subjecting them to a home-school curriculum that included military-style drills with firearms. The man was discovered after his son found a USB drive containing videos and photos of the teenaged middle daughter being sexually abused — some of which had been uploaded to the internet.

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When police raided the man’s home in late 2016, they found dozens of loaded weapons, including handguns, machine guns and around 15,000 rounds of ammunition. Police arrested the father while he was driving, and one of the girls who stayed home had to have a shotgun coaxed from her hands, an investigator later told the Toronto Star.

The investigator described fears of a Waco-style standoff, saying police weren’t sure whether the victims would agree to be rescued — or potentially take up arms alongside their father.

The man was denied bail and eventually pleaded guilty to 10 of the 40 sex and weapons offences he faced, including incest, child trafficking, sexual assault, making child pornography and child exploitation.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the man had been abusing the girls for years, claiming he was teaching them how to please their future husbands. The middle daughter suffered the worst abuse, with her father allowing two unknown men he met online to rape her while he filmed and participated. He told the men they could be violent toward the girl as long as they didn’t break bones or leave scars. The man later forced the girl to watch video of the abuse.

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The man also physically abused the girl, including sticking safety pins into her skin and tearing them out with a rope.

During sentencing proceedings, the Crown called the man’s offending “the stuff of nightmares.” One of the daughters called him “twisted and evil.” He gave a rambling, two-and-a-half hour statement from the prisoner’s box in which he quoted scripture, accused his family of “dad bashing” and suggested they would go to hell for speaking against him.

After the monologue, Court of King’s Bench Justice Vital Ouellette told the accused: “I believe you may be demented.”

Despite the man’s evident lack of remorse, Ouellette granted him credit for pleading guilty and sparing his family the trauma of testifying. The plea helped save the man from the Crown’s requested 29-year prison sentence, which would have been the longest in Canadian history for such crimes.

Prosecutors said the 23½-year sentence is the second longest of its kind.

‘Seething anger’

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The man had 16.½ years left to serve when accounting for pre-trial credit. Parole typically becomes available to offenders one-third of the way through their sentence.

According to the parole board, the man continues to insist he did nothing wrong and has undergone little to no treatment while in prison. He instead occupies his time airing his grievances in writing. The board said he has submitted more than 20 letters totalling hundreds of pages, expressing a desire to carry out citizen’s arrests against his “enemies.”

“Much of your materials were irrelevant and demonstrate the breadth of your delusional beliefs,” the board wrote.

It noted the man — who participated in survivalist clubs in the Edmonton area — was found with an “extensive” escape plan in his cell, which he denied making.

A search of the man’s cell a few months after his sentencing found photos of his ex-wife and one of the victims (court heard the woman worked long hours as the family’s only breadwinner and was unaware of the abuse).

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During the parole hearing, the man referred to his family as “so-called victims” and called his arrest a “kidnapping.”

The board heard those who were once close to the man now fear him. The man’s brother told the board the offender is consumed by a “seething anger” and that he, the brother, wishes to cut off all contact. “All the victims fear that you may seek retribution once you regain any access to the community,” the board said.

The board said the man continues to justify his behaviour by citing his “religious convictions.” He said he grew up in a “very strict” Christian household in which his father would lecture him with Bible verses and his mother disciplined him with “excessive” corporal punishment.

While the board said the man might benefit from exploring his upbringing with a psychologist or counsellor, he has so far refused to do so. Nor has he engaged with his correctional plan, leaving the board to deem him an untreated sex offender.

“Despite spending more than five years in a federal institution, you have made no gains against the objectives laid out in your correctional plan,” the board said. “There are no measurable or observable indicators that you have changed as a person since the time you were actively engaged in your offence cycle.”

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The man now claims his guilty pleas were made “under duress,” despite confirming the opposite to the sentencing judge.

The board painted a bleak picture of the man’s eventual release, saying he has nowhere to live, limited savings and no support in the community. He has expressed desire to drive a truck for a friend’s car dealership.

jwakefield@postmedia.com

x.com/jonnywakefield

@jonnywakefield.bsky.social

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