An Ontario man kept his wife and four children confined in their home for years through intimidation and fear while cloaking abuse as protection that kept them healthy “in the eyes of the Lord.”
A jury in Owen Sound, Ont.,
found a father guilty
of five counts of unlawful confinement — one count each for his wife and four children — along with sexual assault, threatening death, assault, and other charges.
The man’s family escaped their home with the help of police, and he was arrested the following day.
Court heard the confinement of his wife and one child, who is now an adult, lasted 17 years, while confinement of three younger children extended for their entire lives, ranging from six to 11 years.
The man kept them mostly indoors in homes in Bruce and Huron counties, two predominantly agricultural regions dotted by villages and towns along the shore of Lake Huron, about 200 kilometres west of Toronto.
Publication bans prohibiting identification of the victims mean the man cannot be named.
“Rather than being the loving, inclusive, tolerant father and husband that he attempted to paint himself, he believes he’s smarter than most people,” Assistant Crown Attorney Meredith Gardiner told the jury.
“He knows it all. He’s done it all. He’s been through more than anyone. He has superhuman strength. He is exceptional. And he believes he should be in control of everyone and everything, all the time.”
While the couple were dating, the man told his future wife that because of “rape culture” she couldn’t go outside unless he was with her, the wife testified. While inside the home she had to close the windows and draw the curtains, but he allowed the windows to be opened briefly if the wind was coming from the north.
In her summary of evidence to the jury last week, Ontario Superior Court Judge Gisele Miller said the children were confined to certain parts of a house and couldn’t go outside unless permitted by their father, or they were with him.
The wife testified that at first her husband let her take their children to the park before restrictions tightened and “he really pulled us in … isolating the family visually from the community,” Miller said of the woman’s testimony. The increased restrictions coincided with the birth of another child.
For a few years, his wife and eldest child were permitted to attend one community event a year, “otherwise, they could not go anywhere alone,” Miller said of the wife’s testimony.
When neighbours raised concern about not seeing the family outside, the man permitted his wife to let the children out one at a time, Miller said. He asked for pictures of this, “in case CAS would call,” a reference to child welfare authorities, Miller’s summary of evidence said.
He wouldn’t let the children ride bicycles or play with toys.
“While outside, the children were not permitted to touch the ground,” Miller said. They could go outside once a week for 10 or 15 minutes, but only if the wind was coming from the north.
Two children told court they feared their father would kill them if they disobeyed. The charges include physically assaulting a son by lifting him off the floor by his face.
The wife was asked in cross-examination about opportunities to escape when her husband left them at home to go on vacations on his own, and about their shared ownership of the house and bank account.
She said she was fearful of what he would do if they left or if she used the bank card without his permission. The woman testified she and her children complied with his restrictions because they feared they would be killed if they didn’t.
The man had pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied confining his family.
He was self-represented at his trial that started Oct. 27. The court appointed lawyer Richard Stern to assist the court and the accused.
Stern said the accused characterized his actions as acts of love and protection.
Stern told the jury the father’s position was that “he went to great lengths to protect his family, keep them safe from harm, and keep them healthy and good in the eyes of the Lord.”
Stern said the defendant felt he was shielding them from what he believed were the “evils of secular society” and that videos he made of his family showed his “love and affection” for them.
The accused said the accusations were unfounded accounts by his former wife, calling it a “false, distorted story of cruelty and intimidation when the reality was love.”
The husband argued his wife could have left at any time and “all of this could have been avoided” had his family, police, and child welfare authorities told him they wanted to leave.
He told court he took the family on trips in Ontario and the United States and often reminded his wife to let the children outside. He said he made a deal with his wife and their eldest child that he would pay for everything if they stayed home and kept house, Miller said of his evidence.
The jury was shown video clips of him taking the children out in his car. One video showed one of the children, who was almost seven, seeing a community centre and a park for the first time.
Miller said the man described the videos he supplied as showing “happiness, love, frivolity and togetherness” and their “devotion to Christianity.”
Gardiner, the prosecutor, argued he was not a credible witness, that his testimony was repeatedly contradicted by his words heard on the videos. His actions were not to protect or correct the children, as parents have the right to do, but rather were a result of his “abusive personality.”
“It is the Crown position that (the defendant) ruled his family through intimidation, threats and violence. He controlled every part of their lives,” Miller told the jury. She advised that confinement can be by way of “fear, intimidation and psychological or other means.”
The jury agreed and convicted him on 13 of the 15 charges.
He was also convicted of threatening bodily harm, criminal harassment and intimidation against an Ontario Disability Support Worker who was trying to initiate an investigation that required his eldest child to sign documents.
The jury concluded he was the masked man on a Harley Davidson motorcycle who drove by the worker’s office, waited outside, and followed him to a gas station and then to a diner. The worker testified the man on the motorcycle drove up to him and said “mess with my family and you’ll pay” several times.
The man has not yet been sentenced.
Gardiner said she may make an application for an assessment of the man for a possible dangerous offender designation. That could lead to an indeterminate prison sentence and a long-term supervision order.
Postmedia
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