This is a great example of why I want these predators to suffer. They don't change, they can't be cured. They are animals who change the lives of children forever in a horrible way. Although the OP was not about a person who has molested (that we know about), he fuels the perversion of those who do by purchasing their "product".
EDMONTON — A "beast-like" pedophile was jailed indefinitely on
Friday, shortly after hearing the rage and sorrow of the two little
girls he kidnapped and abused in 2008.
Danial Todd Gratton,
47, was designated a dangerous offender by Court of Queen's Bench
Justice Sterling Sanderman. The rare designation is reserved only for
criminals with consistently violent histories who must be separated from
the public.
"This is beast-like behaviour," Sanderman told
court. "His behaviour in October 2008 was predatory. This behaviour is
truly evil and makes any person, parent or not, cringe."
The
mother of one of Gratton's victims, who was 10 years old when he
abducted and sexually assaulted her, spared no fury when allowed to read
her victim-impact statement. She addressed Gratton directly.
"As
I look upon you, I could spit in your face, but what would this prove?
Nothing. I don't know you, but I hate you, I despise you and I wish you
were dead," she said through tears.
"You have no idea what
you have done to these children, for the rest of their lives, on a daily
basis. And for what? Your sick and demented pleasure? You pig. You have
no right to do what you did."
In October 2008, Gratton
used promises of kittens and ice cream to lure the two girls, one seven
years old and the other 10. At the time, he was attending sex-offender
treatment and meeting with a parole officer as part of a 10-year,
long-term supervision order that prohibited him from places where
children might gather.
Gratton was registered as a
long-term offender in 2002, after he was sentenced to six years in
prison for sex crimes against six children between the ages of three and
seven. He had been convicted previously of sexual assault in 1990 and
sexual interference in 1991.
"I wish you were dead," one of
his young victims wrote in black marker. Her statement went on to say
she can no longer sleep with a pillow because it reminds her of the one
Gratton "squished" into her face during the assault.
The
other victim wrote of how she felt ashamed and stupid after she was
grabbed from her neighbourhood as she rollerbladed with a friend.
"I
didn't want to be known as the girl who got raped because she was
stupid enough to get in a car for kitten and ice cream," she wrote. She
cut her hair, changed her appearance and began using a different last
name.
"I hate life," her statement read. "I don't see the
point anymore. He took something away from me that night that I'll
never, ever be able to get back. You're born, you live and you die,
that's just how I see everything now."
Some family members
wept openly and leaned against each other for support in court. Others
glared at Gratton as he stared at the floor.
When given the chance, Gratton apologized to the court.
"I'm very, very horrified by the things I've done. I realize the seriousness of what I did. I'm disgusted with my behaviour."
Gratton also told court he is voluntarily taking pills to chemically castrate himself.
Last
year, he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting and kidnapping the girls
two days apart in 2008. After that plea, the Crown began efforts to
have Gratton declared a dangerous offender.
In the midst of those efforts, Gratton voluntarily agreed to not oppose the designation.
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