A judge deeply disturbed by a Windsor man who sexually assaulted two children while they were unconscious handed down his sentence Tuesday.
James Piche, 30, has been given nine-year jail term, minus 18 months for time served. He pleaded guilty to 19 child porn-related charges back in July involving three local underage victims.
While reviewing the images and videos Piche recorded, Justice Lloyd Dean says he felt "outrage, anger, disgust and sorrow." He says families' lives have been shattered.
"The victims were robbed of their youth and innocence," he says, as Piche sat stone faced in the courtroom. "My heart is broken for the children."
The courtroom was filled with friends and family, who at times were crying and visibly emotional.
Piche also received a lifetime ban on attending areas where unsupervised minors are present. He's also been prohibited from working or volunteering in a role where he would be in a position of trust with minors.
"We were expecting somewhere in the middle. The courts have shown, from the Court of Appeal, that it could have been as low as seven (years) but clearly as high as ten," says Piche's defence lawyer Elizabeth Craig. "So I think the judge came in right in the ballpark in what we think is fair."
She says he'll be eligible for parole after serving one-third of his sentence. If that's denied, he will be released on parole after two-thirds.
"It's been a long time for him. He's been waiting to get this behind him. From the beginning we've been working on a resolution," Craig says. "Of course he's very remorseful and he wants to get help and he doesn't want to suffer anymore either."
