WARNING: This story refers and contains details of child sexual assault.
Daniel Senecal was fulfilling time in jail for sexually assaulting a 12 -year -old boy and then released early, in March. In six months, he was arrested again, after the lifeguards rushed to a home from Welland, Ontario, where a three -year -old girl had been seriously damaged.
The girl had been sexually assaulted at some point after 10 PM ET of August 30, Niagara police said in a press release. His family discovered his wounds on the morning of August 31, and was taken to the hospital and treated, police said.
They said that the images of a nearby surveillance chamber helped researchers identify and arrest Senecal, 25.
Senecal is now in custody, accused of sexual interference and aggravated sexual aggression to a person under 16, breaking and entering, and suffocation and aggression. The bond hearing was Wednesday and the matter was held until October 15 to give him more time to consult with a lawyer.
The uncle of the 12 -year -old told CBC Hamilton that his family was notified of Senecal in March, six months before the original 18 -month sentence issued by the child’s sexual assault.
“That is not much time to reflect,” said the uncle, who CBC is not naming to protect the identity of the 12 -year -old boy. “My nephew will have to live with trauma for the rest of his life. There is no real justice in that prayer.”
The identities of the three -year -old boy are protected under a publication prohibition.
Since the arrest of Senecal on August 31, the reaction of the members of the community and politicians has been rapid and furious, with calls to justice for the girl and, after her criminal history she came to light, for the reform of the justice system.
Last week, a vigil was held in support of the girl and her family, and an online fund collection campaign has raised tens of thousands of dollars.
Some 200 people attended a demonstration outside the St. Catharines Palace on Wednesday. The protesters requested harder sentences for the people convicted of sexual assault and so that the National Registry of Sexual Criminals becomes public, as they are in the United States.
You could listen to some protesters asking for a “public execution” and others had signs in support of the death penalty.
Politicians ask for changes in the justice system
Jeff Burch, a new Democratic Member of the Provincial Parliament that represents the center of Niagara, is among the elected officials who urge the changes to the criminal justice system and the sentence.
“The recent and deeply disturbing assault of a small child in Welland has left our entire community shocked and disconsolate,” Burch said in a statement he shared on social networks last week.
He said that “he will continue to advocate” for harder sanctions to “keep the dangerous criminals out of our streets.”
The conservative parliamentarian Larry Brock, who represents the nearby area of Brantford, is asking for changes in the bail system, although Senecal was not on bail while he was accused of the second sexual assault.
“This should never have happened,” Brock said. “Our justice system is letting dangerous predators return to our streets while families pay the price.”
Police urges the public to trust the ‘verified’ information
The questions have revolved on the past convictions of Senecal, the duration of his sentence and if he was released from the early prison.
The Chief of Police of Niagara, Bill Forddy, issued a statement last week urging the public to “trust verified sources” when it comes to this case and respect the child’s privacy.
“While we continue working with our surveillance and government partners in bail reform, public records show that the suspect was subject to an order of probation at the time of crime,” said Forddy.
CBC Hamilton agreed to these public records, as well as the judicial audio of a 2024 sentence hearing, to help establish what happened before Senecal was accused for the second time in a case of child sexual assault.
What the first case of sexual assault was involved
In 2021, a 12 -year -old boy was sleeping in a house in Welland, where his uncle lived with several tenants, when he was “abruptly awakened with Daniel Senecal on top of him, lowering her pants and underwear”, and then the child was sexually attacked by Senecal, Judge Janet Booy said during the sentence of Senecal, on March 6, March 6, 2024.
She had found him guilty after a judge just judge the previous year.
“The assault was violent. He held by force [the boy] Instead, drowning it. He said [the boy] I was going to rape him, “Boy said.
Another resident listened to the fight, left his room and intervened, said the child’s uncle.
After the police, Senecal, arrived, who was clearly intoxicated, tried to justify his actions when he was arrested, according to the St. Catharines court.
After the assault, the child retired, he no longer wanted to attend school, suffering nightmares and anxiety, and having difficulty trusting anyone, Booy said.
“In the last two years since the incident, it has been a” complete shipwreck “, very powerful words to describe the devastation it has found,” he said.
‘I am strongly sorry for my actions’
Senecal’s defense lawyer, Mark Evans, said his client fought with hyperactivity care deficit disorder (ADHD) and Asperger’s syndrome, a development disorder that is part of the autistic spectrum, as well as alcoholism.
In court, Senecal apologized to the child and his family, stating that he had not drunk in almost two years and was ready to change his life.
“I strongly regret my actions that night,” he said. “I wish I could recover it, but I can’t.”
While the defense argued that Senecal should be imprisoned for 12 months, the crown advocated for four years, given the young age of the child and the Senecal trauma had caused.
Booy finally decided 2.5 years, but gave Senecal credit for the time he spent in custody prior to trial and on bail, leaving him approximately 18 months to serve in jail. He was also added to the National Registry of Sexual Criminals for 20 years.
That prayer meant that it would have been released from the prison at the end of August 2025, but was released six months before, in March, according to the child’s uncle.
He said in the interview that Senecal should have been sentenced to a longer time imprisoned to undergo psychological tests, treatment and rehabilitation to reduce his risk of offending again.
But Booy told the court that he took into account the “youthful” age of Senecal, 24 years old and “recommended” not to drink alcohol for “such a long period of time.”
She said that her Asperger syndrome and ADHD diagnoses were a mitigating factor “that directly goes to the moral guilt of Daniel Senecal.” She noticed that he had no previous criminal record.
But Senecal had been accused of other crimes.
In 2020, he was accused of assault, but was removed when he entered a peace bonus, according to the judicial records.
The following year, he was accused of mischief after damaging a surveillance chamber in a Niagara cataract motel with a pellet gun. A witness saw him “look out in” a window of the ground floor and try to enter, although it was not revealed why, the court heard at the sentence hearing.
The same day he was sentenced by the sexual aggression of the 12 -year -old, he declared himself guilty of the mischief and a charge of breach in relation to the peace bond.
Booy sentenced him to a year of probation at the request of both the defense and the crown, after he turned his time in jail. When he was arrested on August 31 in the case of sexual assault that involved the young woman, he was on probation.
Child abuse cases are not taken “seriously enough,” says the expert
How long should be sent to the perpetrators of sexual violence against children in prison has been the subject of debate in the Canadian courts, says Professor of the University of British Columbia, Janine Benedet, legal expert in this type of case.
She told CBC News that she was speaking in general and does not know all the facts that entered the sentence of Senecal.
“The Supreme Court of Canada has made it very clear that prayers for children’s sexual crimes must increase, that we have not treated these crimes seriously enough or completely appreciating the damage to the victims,” he said.
If you are in immediate or fears for your safety or that of others around you, call 911. To obtain support in your area, you can search for local crisis and services through the Finish the database of the Canada Sexual Violence Association.
