SURREY - Under the mask of a good father: a monster, a predator.

A Surrey dad who sexually molested seven girls under the age 10 - three of his own daughters among them - and made videos to swap with other men in South Africa, Australia, Toronto and Iowa is facing up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to 11 charges involving incest, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, invitation to sexual touching, sexual interference, and making and distributing child pornography.

Dressed in a red T-shirt, the pallid-looking man sat in the prisoner box, clutching a Bible during his sentencing hearing in Surrey provincial court on Wednesday. The court heard that the 36-year-old man made the videos in his Surrey apartment when his wife was at work. His name cannot be revealed because of a publication ban protecting the identity of his victims

He was arrested in January after a man who was being investigated for child porn in Australia gave him up to authorities there and they contacted the RCMP.

Besides his own daughters, he abused other girls as well. Two of the anguished mothers of the victims wept as they tried to describe to Judge Michael Hicks the devastation the molester has brought into their families' lives.

"Under the mask of a good father a monster, a predator," the woman seethed. "You broke our trust."

He "should never be given a chance to live near normal people," she said.

She dreads the day her daughter will come to her "for answers" why this happened to her and she's haunted by thoughts of what her child is feeling and thinking - "what kind of scar you left in her little heart," she told the man.

"It doesn't matter to me if you are sorry or not," she told him. "You are a coward."

Another mom of two victims said she was called out of the blue one day by the RCMP to ID images of her girls related to a child porn investigation.

"I was so shocked my legs gave out," she told the court. She said she was unable to eat or sleep for months, feeling anger, sadness, and that she'd failed as a parent. Unable to cope, she missed work and ultimately received an eviction notice from her landlord.

"I've become a paranoid woman," she said. "I feel every man is an abuser."

Her oldest daughter is an "emotional wreck" and her youngest won't talk about what happened.

"Will my girls be OK?" she asked.

The court heard that in February the man made a 181-page statement to police and told them that when he was a child he had sex with other children, including his sister, and became addicted to pornography at an early age. Eventually he found adult porn insufficient and was drawn to child porn because of its "dark" nature, and "being illegal (it) was exciting to him."

He'd been making and distributing videos to his pedophile cronies every second or third day before police arrested him and seized a slew of home-made child porn from his home. Ironically, a filter had been installed on the family computer to block inappropriate images.

He told police he was "addicted to small girls" and was "glad" he was caught.

"He admits he does not know how far he would have gone if not caught," said Crown prosecutor Paul Sandhu, reading out the admissions in court.

The public gallery was spared any detailed description of the man's crimes, but the judge was obliged to view some of the videos. He wore headphones, and his monitor was turned so the public could not see the illegal images.

Hicks cast glances between his screen and documents on his desk and in typical fashion he'd tell the Crown to move on once he'd seen enough,

Wednesday's hearing got off to an unusual start when defence lawyer Eric Warren petitioned the judge not to have the videos played in court, or if necessary, that he and his client would be excused from having to see them.

"I am concerned about my client and his fragile condition," he said, arguing that showing them to the man would be akin to showing drugs to a drug addict.

"He is working on curing himself of this addiction," he said.

Warren clearly didn't want to see the videos, either, noting they'd be disturbing for anyone to watch. But Sandhu argued that the viewing was "essential" after the Alberta appeal court found that a judge had erred in a similar case by not viewing photographs.

Hicks agreed. He told Warren that he and his client could chose not to view the matter, and their screens were turned off.

Outside court, Sandhu said he was particularly disturbed by the way the molester had groomed his victims and counts the case as "certainly" one of the toughest he's had to deal with.

He's calling for a sentence of 14 to 15 years.

"We're seeking a high sentence," he said.

The hearing resumes next Tuesday.

tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com