UPDATE: Man sentenced to seven years for sexual abuse of grandchildren and dog bestiality

This article has been updated to include additional information regarding the sentencing.

WARNING: the details of this story contain strong sexual content and may be very disturbing for some readers.  

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A 79-year-old man has been convicted and sentenced to over seven years of federal prison time for sexually assaulting three of his granddaughters and one count of bestiality relating to a dog. 

The man is married with five children – three boys and two girls. Two of the male children are deceased, one of which is the father of the victimized grandchildren. 

The 79-year-old was ultimately convicted on one count of bestiality and four counts of invitation to sexual touching on August 21st, 2023.

The court case accounts for graphic indecent acts such as the man forcing one of the victims, nine years old at the time, to watch pornography, and masturbating in front of another of the victims who was four years old at the time. 

According to court documents, the convicted grandfather also engaged in separate incidents of sexual touching with his granddaughters and one incident involving bestiality with the man’s pet dog and one of the victims when they were in the fifth grade.

The man’s identity cannot be revealed due to a court-ordered publication ban, which was put in place to protect the victims’ identities.

The offences took place between 2004 and 2013 in Northern B.C. 

The prosecution in the case had tried to implement a nine-year sentence, while the defence argued for six. 

In addition to the time behind bars, the judge ordered attendance programs and services proposed by the probation officer.

“I want to say to the victims, I hope you can move on from this, I know from what you told me that it is difficult, but I hope that in due course you’ll be able to put this proceeding behind you and carry on with your lives,” said the judge. 

The man is also now prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with people under the age of 16, and was issued a 10-year firearm prohibition and ordered to submit a DNA sample to a national database.