Article content“It’s a strange thing to consider how an old friend molesting your child has impacted you,” he said. “There are moments when I feel it may be better to ask how it hasn’t. When you give your mind space to wonder, the worry of how it will continue to show up in our lives is daunting.Article content“We’ve worked hard over the years to be decent people and have faith in humanity. What (Munro) did has taken that away.”Article contentHe said he and his wife have watched their daughter cry and ask how she can trust a friend, “if the accused was a friend and touched her that way.Article content“We’ve boiled over, we’ve been mad, we’ve been short with each other. We had to pause. We had to reset.”Article contentHe said they have tried to prevent the “contagion of this trauma” from spreading. “How do you sit (and) talk about life without talking about something that’s so perverse, so disgusting, it makes your skin crawl?Article contentArticle content“There were times that I just felt sad, really sad, though at this point . . . it’s turned to anger. There doesn’t really seem to be an adequate way to vent it.”Article contentBreach of trustArticle contentCrown attorney Sarah Kirby said the breach of trust is a significant aggravating factor that increases Munro’s degree of responsibility.Article content“The sexual abuse of (the girl) by a family friend entrusted with her care in the absence of her parents is one of the most egregious breaches of trust the law can conceive of other than sexual abuse by a parent,” Kirby said.Article content“Mr. Munro was supposed to take care of (her) that night. As a four-year-old, she was dependent upon him to keep her safe from harm. Instead, he took the opportunity to sexually abuse her and inflict harm. Mr. Munro would not have had access, nor been able to commit such abuse, if he was not in such a position of trust.”Article contentArticle contentShe said the victim’s age was also an important aggravating factor.Article content“Her vulnerability as a very young child meant that she could not leave her bedroom, she could not fight him off, she was too young to even appreciate the wrongfulness of what Mr. Munro was doing to her,” Kirby said. “All she could do was tell him to stop, which he ignored. (She) was completely at the mercy of Mr. Munro, and he showed her none.”Article contentThe prosecutor noted that in an interview for a presentence report, Munro denied any wrongdoing and did not accept responsibility or express remorse.Article content“He suggested that (the girl) identified him because of ‘perpetrator substitution’ and emphasized that he feels there is nothing for him to make amends for,” Kirby said.Article contentMunro also told the author of the report that the criminal charges have caused significant stress in his life and that being convicted of these charges when he’s innocent “is a nightmare.”
‘He has left a darkness on this family’: Sentencing begins for Halifax man convicted of molesting friends’ daughter
