OTTOWA — His mother had passed away four years earlier, and she was all he could think of when supposedly being exorcised by his two captors.
At only 11 years old, he had experienced torture perhaps worse than a detainee at Guantanamo Bay.
For having a crush on a schoolmate, his head was dunked in a cold bar filled with ice cubes as he struggled to come up for air.
In the harsh Ottawa temperatures, he was made to live in the basement naked and with the fan going at full blast.
There were days his violators would make him drink his own urine, from a container that served as his toilet.
As if his suffering was not enough, his underground prison was deliberately kept dark – the windows covered with cardboard.
Perhaps as part of some twisted ritual to relieve him of his demons, the boy’s self-proclaimed saviors covered his head with a cardboard box to make him understand what jail feels like. He said it was like being in a black hole.
One of the perpetrators was particularly merciless. It did not bother this man that the child he was tormenting was his first-born son.
Just as when one would think it couldn’t get worse, it turns out this coldhearted 44-year-old was an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
The cruel father’s accomplice in this torture, which went on for three long years, was his 36-year-old wife.
These are some of the gory details that emerged in a court trial that has gripped Canada with horror, disgust and alarm. A man who could not even protect his son had been in charge of protecting the community.
All three involved in this case have been awarded name suppression to protect the identity of the victim.
On the third day of the trial the boy, who is now 13, delivered a chilling testimony in court -this included in graphic detail the anguish and pain his father had put him through.
The couple has been charged with aggravated assault, forcible confinement, separately assaulting the child with a weapon and failing to provide the necessities of life.
His stepmother said the duo had done nothing wrong because she felt the boy was out of control and feared for her safety.
The father, who admitted tying the boy with a chain and plastic ties, has one extra charge pressed on him – sexual assault that led to bodily harm.
There is also video footage of the boy’s suffering. The court has been presented with a total of five videos that were filmed just a month before the heartless pair were arrested in 2013.
The amateur footage, captured on the father’s cell phone, shows a scrawny boy tied to the basement wall all the while breathing heavily as his father hurls abuse at him. He is seen shivering and crying as well.
Those present in the courtroom were left clearly shaken and were seen with tears in their eyes. However, it was the last video that left the courtroom traumatized and aghast. Although the exact details have not been revealed of whatever is contained in the footage it was bewildering enough for the judge to shield away space from those present.
Even with the evidence stacked against them, both have pleaded not guilty.
According to the RCMP, the Officer had been on leave since May 2011. As per the timeline suggested by the details of this case, his son must have then still been living in the basement and facing the horror that was his daily life when the officer took time off.
The reason for this sabbatical is under a court-ordered publication ban.
Watch the video below:
