A 42-year-old former Nanaimo man was sentenced to two years of probation after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting his two young cousins between 1997 and 2001. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

child abuse

Former Nanaimo man sentenced for sexual assault of child cousins 25 years ago

Sep 4, 2025 | 5:24 AM

Editor’s note: The following story contains graphic details of sexual assault against children and may not be suitable for some readers. Discretion is advised.

NANAIMO — A 42-year-old man was given two years’ probation for the historic sexual assault on two of his cousins.

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo on Wednesday, Sept. 3, with the offences occurring between November 1996 and April 2001, just before the offender’s 18th birthday.

Crown prosecutor Suzanne Cassell said at the time the offender lived in a trailer on the Nanaimo property where his two female cousins lived with their mother, and would frequently babysit them alone, with the first assault happening when he was approximately 13 years old and the victim was around three.

“On several occasions, the accused would play what was known as ‘the blanket monster game’, where he wore a blanket around his shoulders and run after the kids. The accused would catch (victim) and cover her and himself with a blanket, tickle her, and then proceed to dry hump her. The accused would tell (victim) to wrap her legs around his body and not to say anything.”

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The offender was sentenced as a youth, as he was a minor at the time the offences occurred.

She said the sexual assaults continued until the first victim was around eight years old.

Cassell described in court from the agreed-upon statement of facts of another instance where the victim pretended to be asleep when she was assaulted while wearing nighttime diapers.

The offender would move his body over the young child as she slept in her mother’s bed when she wasn’t at home.

Similar patterns were established with his victim’s older sister, with the first assault occurring when she was seven and he was 15, continuing a few times a month for at least three years.

Neither of the victims recalled any touching being done under the clothes, nor having any of their or the offender’s clothing removed during the assaults.

Defence attorney Michael Ritzker said the accused was “deeply ashamed” of his actions, and suggested the offending was related to him being exposed to “a great deal of unsavoury and unwholesome adult activity taking place in his formative years,” related to adult sexual activity the offender was exposed to growing up.

“….these offences as possible mimickery, mimicking of adult activity, because some of the features of the offences do not resemble normal human sexual behaviour.”

No victim impact statements were submitted to the court.

Offender Speaks
Prior to sentencing, the offender made a statement to the court remotely via video feed, as he now lives and works in Alberta.

He mainly spoke about how the charges have impacted him, including losing a relationship with two of his children.

“…with the internet and social media for my (kids), and the slander that’s on those pages that cost me my companies and relationship. I wish I held more memories to what transpired with my cousins. I don’t deny, but also at the same time, I don’t recall. This will impact and will continue to affect me negatively…I’ve lost more than any sentencing can do.”

Justice Douglas Thompson said he hopes the offender can shift his focus from the effect his offending had on him to the effect it had on the people he sexually assaulted.

“With your remarks, I understand the profound effects on you, on what’s happened, but there are effects on others that I would suggest are more important than how this has affected you.”

Conditions of his probation in the joint submission include a weapons ban, no contact with victims, keeping of the peace, and completing any counselling or treatment programs prescribed to him.

He had no prior criminal record and will not be on the RCMP-accessible sex offender registry.

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