An Evansburg man, X., sexually assaulted his three daughters A. (b. approx. 1995), B. (b. 1998), and C. (b. approx. 2000) over the course of six years. His two sons were not reported to be abused. The children were homeschooled.
The family lived in a ‘compound’ near Evansburg. X. “took an interest in firearms after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and underwent training that included instruction in guerrilla warfare.” He pulled his children from school and homeschooled them, forcing them to do weapons drills and training; one of his daughters reported that she could not write because she was pulled from school so early. He prohibited the girls from driving. He forced his wife to work overtime to support the family so she was rarely in the home and did not know how X. was abusing the children.
X. began sexually abusing B. around 2010, when she was 12. He sexually assaulted her many times per week for six years. X. considered B. to be his plural wife; he forced her to take marriage vows to him and forced her to call him ‘master’. In 2014, he posted a naked picture of her online and sold sex with B. to strangers he met online on two occasions; he videotaped and participated in the assaults. One one occasion, he punished B. for seeing a boy her age by “[sticking] clothes pins through her skin and [tearing] them off with a rope.” X. used the Bible to justify the abuse of his daughters and at his sentencing continued to maintain that B. would go to hell for wifely disobedience.
A., who has a developmental delay, was sexually assaulted for two years. X. forced her to have sexual contact with B., then sexually assaulted B. in front of her. C. was sexually assaulted for two and a half years, beginning when she was 14. She reported how X. groomed her and her sisters, telling them the abuse was “teaching” them. She also reported that her father hit her, her siblings, and her mother.
The abuse came to light when a family member reported it to the authorities in October 2016. X. was charged with 23 sexual offenses including human trafficking, incest, sexual assault, and child pornography. He pleaded guilty to 10 of the charges in February 2019 and in September 2019 he was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Date: November 2016
Location: Evansburg, Alberta, Canada
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