A man who admitted kidnapping and sexually assaulting an eight-year-old Edmonton girl will be sentenced Wednesday afternoon. Wade Stan pleaded guilty earlier this year to pulling a young girl into his vehicle while she was on her way home and assaulting her before leaving her behind in March 2020. The girl cannot be named due to a publication ban protecting her identity. During a two-day sentencing hearing, Stene’s attorney, Mark Jordan, asked for a sentence of 10 years, minus 1,318 days credit. Jordan argued that Sten had a troubled past, no prior criminal record and suffered emotional trauma from protests outside his home, while he was released on bail to the victim’s neighborhood in June 2020. Stene asked for his bail to be revoked because he felt he was safer in jail, according to Jordan, who asked the judge to take that into consideration when deciding on a proper sentence. “He was a duck under house arrest,” Jordan said during the hearing. Prosecutors, Keith Nicholls and Ioana Corabian, asked for a 20-year sentence. The Crown argued Stene’s bail had a significant impact on the community and the anger that led to protests outside his home was “justified and predictable”. The Crown also argued that the attack on the child was premeditated. Nicholls said Stene essentially had a “rape kit” in his hand, pointing out how he was wearing a mask, had duct tape with him and had his seat down and covered with a blanket. “How is 20 years extreme?” Nichols asked. “How do we justify a 10-year sentence?” As the sentencing hearing wrapped up Tuesday, Stan was offered a chance to speak. Stan apologized to the child’s family for “bad” actions and asked for forgiveness, while trying to convince them that he felt remorse. “I felt remorse during the act and that made me stop,” Stene told them. The child’s aunt later sent a statement to CTV News. “It was incredibly difficult to hear my niece’s rapist speak, to see him look us in the eye and say he was remorseful during the ‘act,’” she wrote. “If Wade Stene gets the sentence he is seeking, his victim will be 16 years old when he is released from prison. The court has a responsibility to make the sexual assault of a child a very serious crime with very serious consequences. Anything less would be an insult to everything we’ve been through.” The aunt said she believes forgiveness is possible, although she doesn’t feel it right now. Stan’s sentencing is scheduled for 3 p.m
