A father will spend 12 years in jail after being convicted of the incest of his young daughter. To protect the identity of the child we can't tell you his name or show you his picture. In passing judgement, Justice Adolph Lucas commented that the man appeared to be humble, but that he shows the actions of a devil. The Roaring Creek man had been found guilty of three counts of incest last week Wednesday. Today he was sentenced to three 12 year sentences which are to run concurrently, so he will only serve 12 years total. We spoke to prosecutor Audrey Matura who told us that getting matters to even go to trial is rare and a conviction, is even more so, for various reasons.
Audrey Matura, Crown Counsel
"The cases of incest are many in this country and when they are reported but many few reach the courtrooms. As you notice the judge had to scold and mention that there were some members of the media who did not consider that they were not protecting the identity of the young girl in involved. Things like that, the average person out there in the public doesn't know that there are provisions in the law that say that any incest case, the judge could order that the matter be heard in-camera, meaning no member of the public can hear it; only the judge, the attorneys, the jury, and necessary policemen would be in the courtroom. So basically that is to protect their privacy.
So that is one reason it seldom comes. Another one is because it is very difficult for children to face their own parents, it takes a lot of courage. Sometimes these girls do not get the support from their mothers so they don't come. It is rare but we would encourage people to keep coming and hope that this one will show them that there is still a chance for you to make the report and the chances of success are still very high in a courtroom because why would a child want to tell a lie on their father."
