WARNING: This story contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.
The family, friends and pastor of an eight-year-old girl who was kidnapped and sexually assaulted in Edmonton in March 2020 shared their grief with the court Monday morning, as victim impact statements were read during the defendant’s sentencing hearing.
The girl, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban protecting her identity, was walking home from a close friend’s house in McQueen’s neighborhood.
It was then that Wade Stene, already armed with red duct tape, a mask, a knife and a white sheet in the back of his vehicle, grabbed the young woman, tied her up with the tape and led her to a quiet place.
There, he sexually assaulted her before telling her not to tell anyone and leaving her there.
Stene pleaded guilty in February to kidnapping, confining and sexually assaulting the girl, as well as unlawfully inviting a person under the age of 16 to touch her body.
READ MORE: Edmonton man pleads guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting 8-year-old girl
The court heard on Monday that the girl was terrified the man would eat her and kill her.
In her victim impact statement, the girl’s mother said, “I watched my carefree, adventurous daughter draw more and more into herself.”
The mother went on to say that falling asleep became very difficult for her son. He had nightmares and would jump away from cars parked at the curb.
His father called the test “a parent’s worst nightmare.”
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about what happened, not a day goes by that I don’t feel the pain and the horror, and the poisonous anger that makes my blood boil,” he said.
The boy’s father described feeling a “poisonous anguish” that continues to overwhelm him after what happened that day.
“Guilt. Guilt so deep how I could have allowed this to happen, how I failed as a father to protect my son. I thank God that she is still with us and I curse her name for allowing this to happen.”
The Crown is asking for a 20-year sentence, comparing the crime to a rock thrown into the water, with the ripples spreading throughout the community, polluting people’s sense of safety.
“It is exceptional in its depravity, in the shocking nature of the crime committed by Mr Stene, but more importantly, it is exceptional in the harm it has caused,” said Crown Prosecutor Keith Nicholls.
The defense asks for a sentence of 10 years.
Stene is now 39 years old. A Gladue report was ordered, as Stene is Métis. A deeper look into the past of an offender and his family history is needed.
The court heard that as a child, Stene said he was physically and emotionally abused by both his father and stepfather.
Stene was also told that it would never amount to anything.
He also claimed that he was sexually abused by a teenager when he was a child himself.
Defense attorney Mark Jordan said his client also attempted suicide twice in his youth.
READ MORE: Man charged with kidnapping and sexual assault of 8-year-old girl in West Edmonton
As an adult, Stene continued to live with his mother and held various jobs as a cook, baker, in construction, and in the oil field.
He has no prior criminal record.
In a statement to Global News, the victim’s family wrote: “This has been another unimaginably difficult day in court.”
“There is no sentence that will satisfy us at the end of this ordeal, but we feel we were able to express, as much as possible, the level of terror, pain and resulting trauma that this man has inflicted not only on his eight victims from two years, but also from his family and the tight-knit neighborhood where he lives and plays.”
More to come…
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