A young Edmonton woman stayed away from the courtroom Monday as lawyers proposed how long the man who kidnapped and sexually assaulted her should be behind bars. The girl was eight years old when he was attacked. Her identity is protected by a publication ban. On March 10, 2020, she was playing with a friend in Edmonton’s west central McQueen neighborhood. When it was time for dinner, he was making the short trip home down an alley when a white vehicle pulled up. Wade Stene wore a mask. He got out, grabbed her and put her in the back of the vehicle. Stene bound her hands, feet and mouth with duct tape and then drove her to a remote location where he sexually assaulted her. The forty minutes of terror the little girl endured had a devastating impact on her and her family. “When she came into the house, she held me tightly and told me she had been kidnapped,” the mother told the court in a victim impact statement. “We held each other and cried together and then more details came out. It broke my heart to hear my daughter tell me she was rushed.” The mother said that for the past two years, her daughter had trouble falling asleep, was plagued by nightmares and had trouble returning to school once private lessons resumed. “Some days when we let our daughter ride her bike with friends, my husband and I have to remind ourselves that if we keep her home and hold her as tight as we want, we will break her spirit,” the mom said through tears. . . “So we let her go and pray for her healing and wholeness.” The child’s father is the one who found her and brought her home that day. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about what happened,” he said in his victim impact statement. “Not a day goes by that I don’t feel the pain and horror of that moment. Or anger enough to boil my blood and think about what I would do to that man if I ever got my hands on him.” A despicable creature – the victim’s father He called Stene “a despicable creature” who harmed his little girl. He also said he is plagued with guilt because he feels he failed as a father to protect his child. The victim’s aunt told the court she is haunted by the terror her niece felt during her ordeal. “I was horrified to learn that Wade Stene was prepared for this crime. He had tape ready, a blanket and a mask and he was waiting in his vehicle,” the aunt said. “He thought he was going to kill her and eat her.” He called Stene’s release on bail back into his victim’s community a miscarriage of justice. Wade Stan’s provisional bail resulted in protests outside McQueen’s mother’s home, where he was under house arrest. (Raffy Boudjikanian/CBC) “Releasing a child rapist on bail anywhere is bad enough. Leaving him back in the neighborhood of his crime is worse,” said the aunt. To release a child rapist in a house that is only meters away from his victim’s only safe haven? It was unforgivable.”
Crown and defense far apart at sentencing
Stene pleaded guilty to kidnapping, sexual assault and unlawful touching in February before the case went to trial. On Monday, Crown prosecutor Keith Nicholls asked the judge to impose a 20-year sentence. “This particular case is exceptional,” Nicholls said. “It is extraordinary in its depravity, in the shocking nature of the offense that Mr. Stan committed… It is extraordinary in the harm it has caused.” The prosecutor pointed to the planning and deliberation that led to the crime. “It was a crime of opportunity, but it was definitely premeditated,” he argued. Wade Stene at the time of his arrest in 2020. (Edmonton Police Service) Stene’s lawyer insisted his client did not plan the crime in advance. Mark Jordan said Stene had a mask in his vehicle for work-related reasons and duct tape because he had recently moved. “These were serious crimes, but they were serious crimes of opportunity on that day,” Jordan said, asking the judge to sentence him to 10 years in prison. “He takes full responsibility and is very remorseful for his actions,” says a report Gladue prepared for the court. “He understands that the victim must have been very scared. He prays for her every day.” Jordan said Stan, 39, was sexually assaulted when he was seven, suffered from depression for most of his life and attempted suicide twice in his late 20s. The defense also argued that Stene’s sentence should be reduced because of the fear Stene and his mother experienced when he was released on bail in June 2020 and because of all the publicity the case has generated. With those factors, along with credit for time already served, Jordan suggested three years and seven months be removed from any sentence imposed. The sentencing hearing continues on Tuesday. Sten is expected to address the court. Judge Susan Richardson said she would issue her sentencing decision on Wednesday afternoon.
