Betraying Childhood Trust

"I feel like a failure as a parent, I couldn't protect my child. This wasn't supposed to happen, this is something you read about in the paper and think it could never happen to your family.
"I miss my little boy who would flop on the couch with me and be silly."
Mother of 11-year-old sexually assaulted boy

The mother of a boy who was in Grade 6, and 11 years of age when he began experiencing sexual assaults by a man with whom he had become familiar, a local postman who gave the boy odd jobs, helping deliver mail, wrote in a victim impact statement that she believes her now-13-year-old son blames her for what happened to him.

He has become an angry and withdrawn child, barely resembling the son she knew.

The predator, 51 years of age, and his younger wife, 22 years old, were both convicted of sexually assaulting the boy.  The woman is the mother of two young girls, and she was sentenced to two years in prison. Her husband was sentenced to five years in prison.

"The actions of Mr. (Greg) Ganong and Ms. (Jenelle) Perrier (were) predatory", said Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Rutherford before he passed sentence for their "almost unfathomable crimes". The judge spoke of Mr. Ganong as the "recruiter and principal cultivator of the abusive activity", abusing the boy over a two-month period in 2010.

"He was treated as their toy for their sexual gratification", Judge Rutherford observed.  Mr. Ganong, as a result, is no longer employed at Canada Post. He was convicted of sexual assault, sexual touching and invitation to sexual touching.  Mr. Ganong had gained the boy's trust, offering him a job, giving him gifts and treats, before attacking him.

"You don't have to feel any guilt about this at all", Judge Rutherford assured the boy, stemming from an agonized statement he had written in his victim impact statement that he had informed no one of what was happening to him because he felt he had himself done something wrong.

Abuse, shame and confusion.