A man who physically terrorized and handcuffed his common-law wife’s four-year-old daughter to a milk crate in their basement has been denied his appeal.
Darcy Don Bannert will also be sentenced at a later date for new conviction added to the case, ruled the Alberta Court of Appeal in a decision yesterday.
Bannert was sentenced to eight years in prison for assaulting the girl in June 2007.
Lawyers for Bannert say the trial judge erred for allowing hearsay as evidence to convict him of sexual assault and sexual interference, but he does admit to physically harming and confining the girl in the basement.
Police took custody of the girl after getting a call from two people who lived in the home. The roommates testified in court that Barnett would “frequently” use a spray bottle to her face to force the girl to eat during meals.
The girl also admitted to her foster parent in detail that she was sexually abused while she was being bathed, court heard. The girl never testified in court.
