Daddy from hell - Jamaica-born Canadian father ordered deported after assaulting daughters

Alicia*, a Jamaican woman now living in Canada, spent her life dreaming of the father she never knew. That dream turned into a nightmare.

She says the man she once longed to embrace, sexually assaulted her and her sister,

Despite pleading guilty to assault, her father walked away with only probation and a deportation order.

For Alicia, the sentence has shattered her faith in justice.

"I was hoping for him to go to jail, honestly I don't care if it was a day, two days or a month... I just wanted him to be locked away," she told THE STAR.

"Giving him probation... that is not doing anything to him. For me, that is not justice."

Alicia first met Michael* when she was 14, and for years, she longed to build a relationship with him. In 2022, at 25, she migrated to Canada after he filed for her to join him, hoping finally to connect with the father she had prayed for her whole life.

"Growing up, I always wished to know my father. I never imagined this is what meeting him would be like," she said.

But shortly after arriving, his behaviour shifted in terrifying ways. Alicia alleges he began demanding sexual favours and threatening her life if she refused, leaving her isolated and unsure where to turn.

"I was alone in Canada and didn't know what to do. I didn't report it because I was scared," she said, adding that at one point she slept at her workplace instead of going home.

Alicia also described how financial dependence became another layer of control. Relying on him for housing and guidance, she said, made her vulnerable to manipulation.

"He told me if I lied down with him, he would give me one of the houses," she alleged. "I said, 'You're my father, why do I have to sleep with you for that?'",

The first assault allegedly occurred just months after her arrival, following a Jamaican party they attended together. Preparing for bed, Alicia said her father entered the bathroom, grabbed her, and began touching her inappropriately.

"He grabbed me and started touching me," she said. "I pushed him away and ran to my room. I locked the door and cried the whole night."

She said the experience shocked and terrified her, and she had no one else in Canada to turn to.

Months later, when her sister visited from England in 2023, the abuse allegedly continued. Alicia says her father attempted to assault her sister as well. It was then that the sisters decided they could no longer remain silent and reported the incidents to the police.

The case came before a Canadian court earlier this month. After a week of trial, Alicia learnt her father intended to plead guilty, ending the proceedings and moving directly to sentencing. He admitted to two counts of physical assault, even though Alicia insists that his crimes were more egregious.

In fact, she was stunned when the court handed down a sentence of probation and deportation rather than jail time.

"The fact that he pleaded guilty makes me feel better." Still, the outcome, in her view, falls far short of accountability.

In her victim impact statement, Alicia described the profound effect of the abuse,

"What he did shattered something inside me that I have been trying to put back together," she wrote. "You were supposed to be the person who kept me safe, not the one I needed protection from."

She said the assault "shattered my sense of safety and broke the foundation of my entire life."

Alicia said the trauma has affected every aspect of her life--from her marriage to her mental health and sense of safety.

The abuse has affected every part of her life her marriage, her mental health, and her sense of safety. "Healing has been rough, but I'm coping better now," she said. "I always wanted to know my father... and this is what I got."

* Names changed to protect identities