Warning: This story contains graphic details and may be distressing to some readers.
A Vancouver man who has denied sexually abusing a pre-teen girl hundreds of times was sentenced to 12 years in prison Nov. 3.
Preston Cody Dickins, 30, told the court he has never had any sexual interaction with children.
“That is outright vile and disgusting in my opinion,” he told Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Kathryn Denhoff.
“Mr. Dickins committed hundreds of acts of sexual violence,” Denhoff said as she sentenced him, saying he took away the victim’s innocence, youth, self-confidence and joy.
The judge convicted Dickins July 27, 2022 of sexual assault, sexual interference of a person under 16, invitation to sexual touching under 16, making or publishing child pornography and possession of child pornography. The offences are said to have occurred between December 2017 and August 2019, starting when the girl was nine years old.
Some of offences took place in a room Dickins at times shared with his young son.
Denhoff rejected Dickins' testimony in the case, much of it him claiming the child had initiated the sex, images of which police found on his phone.
Dickins also claimed he had taken the images so he could show them to her mother if the child continued to initiate the sex.
“I reject Mr. Dickins’ testimony that (she) initiated the sexual activity,” Denhoff said in her July conviction.
Twice the average risk of reoffending
Police also found 3,400 other images on the phone, which Dickins admitted fit the definition of child pornography, the judge said. He claimed he did not know how they had got on the phone.
Crown prosecutor Jenny Dyck said the “horrific” images involved children and babies being sexually abused.
“These images are absolutely at the higher end of the scale of criminality and depravity,” Dyck told Denhoff.
The prosecutor told the judge that a pre-sentencing report indicated Dickins has twice the average risk of reoffending than most sexual abusers.
Dyck said the man was the child’s caregiver, and that the offences constituted a “grievous abuse of trust.”
Glacier Media has chosen to omit the disturbing details of the case. The child’s name and any identifying information are covered by a publication ban.
Dickins addressed court
Dickins sat through much of the proceedings with his head down, shaking it at various times.
“This case has been extremely stressful for me,” he said. “I have had my son ripped out of my life.”
He asked Denhoff if he could address the victim impact statements presented to the court.
“I don’t think it would be appropriate,” Denhoff said.
Dickins said he wishes “the truth is heard some time in the future,” and that he wants to move his life forward as “a productive member of society.”
Denhoff reduced the 14-year jail sentence sought by prosecutors to 12 years. Dickins must provide a DNA sample and was ordered to be on the sex offender registry for life.
The judge called him a risk to children, and for 10 years following his release, will be banned him from parks, pools, daycares, schools and community centres, where young people might gather. Dickins is also banned from using the internet to download pornography or to communicate with young people for 10 years.
He is not allowed within 20 kilometres of the victim or her mother for 20 years.
Dickins told Glacier Media that the court did not allow him to provide certain evidence and that made it impossible to defend himself. He said he would appeal the case.
He said his current lawyer would not represent him in an appeal.
“I cannot find one to represent me.”
