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A former RCMP counter-terrorism officer who tortured and starved his 11-year-old son in a darkened Kanata basement was found guilty on Monday morning. ! t( M6 h, D! r, F
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The 44-year-old man and his wife were both on trial for confining the boy and failing to provide him with the necessities of life. The boy’s father was also on trial for aggravated sexual assault with a barbecue lighter. He was found guilty of assault, sex assault and forcible confinement. The wife, the boy’s stepmother, was also found guilty of assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessities of life. , ^- A' R* r: n/ K9 l2 {& t. r8 z
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“That a parent could do things that were done to (the boy) was gut-wrenching,” said Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger while delivering his verdict. 4 A1 @! j/ `9 T4 h' N
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“That being said, however, the fact that this half-starved, burned and battered 11-year-old could somehow summon the strength to escape his cruel captivity and later seemingly rise above it, is a testament to the indomitability of the human spirit.”7 Z0 j4 W: Y" y% _) D
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The names of the father, the stepmother and the child are protected by a publication ban. / F. T( B! I4 W) ~
( E; e4 Y& g/ EThe father took the stand in his own defence earlier this year, testifying he was afraid his son would stab him in the heart as he slept. He said he also feared the “out-of-control” boy would rape his wife and beat his other children. “I was 100 per cent convinced of this,” he said.
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( G0 k: _2 p$ T. ?' z+ H“I was living with the devil at home,” the 44-year-old Mountie, who is now suspended without pay, told the court in April.
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4 [5 c" Y: y$ d4 U% C7 a% O; eThe father intensified disturbing punishments and videotaped interrogations after the boy refused to do his homework, court heard. The police officer had pulled his son out of school in 2012 and homeschooled him.
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“I had an enemy in front of me,” he previously testified. “Me and my son were at war.”# ~( M% a: K; c% K" b% G7 ~# c
, a& a9 L: O2 w; o+ C6 U1 C“I didn’t care for anybody’s feelings except my own … the pain he was putting me in … I was in pain and fear the whole time,” said the father, who was mounting a PTSD defence that he didn’t know his actions were wrong or have the mental capacity to form the intent needed for a crime.3 u# c* i- Y/ ^' {* `" ^
0 K, O3 B! K/ h4 f9 n8 N& P5 ADuring trial, the Mountie admitted to chaining his son to a post in the basement, torturing the shackled and naked child and to rationing his food.
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1 M5 u- r$ }& x+ i! V* \“I hit him. Before the hitting, I burned him (with a barbecue lighter) because I felt the devil lived in him. I needed to defend myself. I was facing something scary,” he said.+ x) H' h0 l( u7 r5 t y8 h
9 I1 y# W0 Z1 s) g. D" X; H5 IThe father also admitted that he made his son sleep on the basement floor but denied a series of allegations, ranging from forcing the child to use a slop bucket in the basement as a toilet and forcing him to drink his own urine, and that he tied him up on a Florida trip while the rest of the family hit the beach.
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0 z7 \# R% K: @! F, _1 n. QThe father’s testimony corroborated the boy’s earlier testimony that he was shackled in chains, handcuffed in the basement and forced to sleep on the floor until he escaped on Feb. 12, 2013, in search of water. The boy weighed only 50 pounds at that point and doctors said he almost starved to death, court has heard. |
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