Stepfather convicted of rape of female - 9 year prison sentence

Vile stepfather jailed for sex abuse
Girl bullied into years of sexual abuse
By DEAN PRITCHARD, SUN MEDIA
The Winnipeg Sun

A Winnipeg man controlled every facet of his stepdaughter's life to bully her into years of sexual abuse, a judge said Monday.

"This is the most egregious form of sexual exploitation short of slavery with handcuffs attached," said Justice Morris Kaufman before sentencing the 54-year-old man to nine years in prison.

"The accused kept the victim under his complete and total control, picking her clothes, approving her friends, and attempting to control every facet of her life." The man -- who can not be named to protect the identity of his now 30-year-old victim -- was convicted following a trial last summer of sexual assault, sexual touching, procuring for the purposes of prostitution, and uttering threats. He was acquitted of an additional charge of sexual assault with a weapon, involving accusations he used a syringe to inject water into her breasts to make them bigger.

Kaufman called the man "a sly manipulator of facts" and "a bully who used verbal threats and violence to get his way."

"When confronted with the fact he sent her to get contraceptives, he claimed with a straight face that he was just looking out for her welfare and did not know who she was going to have sex with," Kaufman said. The man gave credibility to his threats by recounting his assault on his own grandmother and described his abuse of the girl as "bonding," Kaufman said.

According to court documents, the woman told police her stepfather started groping her when she was 10 years of age and raped her when she was 14. The man claimed the two were involved in a five-year consensual sexual relationship beginning when she was 15.

The victim said when she was 12, the man and her mother asked if she would agree to carry the man's baby. The girl's mother became pregnant before the proposal could be acted upon.

"Today, I feel that my mother all but handed me over to (my stepfather) by making it clear that he could have sex with me without her doing anything about it," the woman wrote in a court document.

When the girl was 15, she and her stepfather moved into their own home. She became pregnant with his baby but suffered a miscarriage.

The woman said her stepfather threatened her with death if she told anyone of the abuse, claiming he had killed his grandmother with a hammer.

On the victim's 18th birthday, the man dressed her up in pink tights, took her to a massage parlour and put her to work as a prostitute, she told police. The man claimed it was her choice to become a prostitute and he only suggested going to a massage parlour to keep her off the streets.