A Chilliwack court heard Tuesday that a local man who has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three children was first accused of molestation in 2002, years before he began abusing two other victims.

The man (who cannot be named because of a publication ban on any information that could identify his child victims, who include his own nephew) pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual assault, along with charges of pointing a firearm and operating a vehicle without necessary consideration.

At his sentencing hearing Tuesday, Judge Roy Dickey heard the circumstances of the three sexual assaults.

In 2002, the man, who already had a sexual assault on his criminal record, was accused by his female roommate of discharging pepper spray towards her. Police were called and spoke to the woman's children. Crown counsel Paul Blessin told the court that the man frequently babysat the children. One of the children-a nine-year-old boy at the time-told Mounties "that the accused had been touching him for more than one month . . . and that it happened a lot when his mom went out."

The boy said he and the accused touched each other while in their home's basement and "wearing their PJs." The assaults happened more than 10 times. The boy was not sure if it took place more than 25 times.

Blessin said that no further action was taken in regard to the sexual allegations because of what was deemed at the time to be a lack of sufficient evidence.

"There wasn't much more detail provided at the time and ultimately charges did not go ahead back in 2002," Blessin told the court. "Further details weren't sufficient at that point to justify charges going ahead."

While the man was praised by defence counsel Tuesday for pleading guilty to all the charges, he did not admit to abusing the boy in 2002.

Seven years later, in 2009, Mounties were called to investigate a possible sexual assault. The victim- the child of the man's common-law wife- said he had been abused for "a couple of years."

The victim also suggested another boy-the man's nephew-may have also been assaulted. In addition to investigating those assaults, police also took a second look at the 2002 allegations.

By this time, the victim of the 2002 assaults was a teenager and had more details to offer. Blessin- recounting the boy's 2009 statement to police-told the court the man "would ask [the boy] if he liked it. He said 'no.' But he did it anyways."

The incidents involving the man's nephew involved the most violence, with the man once pinning the teenager to the floor while touching him. The boy later recalled another of the estimated 500 occasions on which he was abused: "I was like stop, stop, stop and he didn't stop at that point."

The court heard that the man had a serious alcohol problem and that he would grow more violent as he consumed more booze.

In a tearful statement to the court, he said "I'm sorry to everybody . . . I'm sorry to the kids. I just don't want to hurt anybody else."

His lawyer, Ondine Snowdon, said her client had professed a severe desire to fix what a psychologist described as "pedophiliac tendencies." She said his quick guilty pleas on the charges along with his participation in various counselling programs demonstrate his willingness to change.

"He's taken serious steps to address the issues underlying his offending," said Snowdon."

The crown is seeking a 12to18-month jail sentence, while Snowdon-who stresses the need to rehabilitate her client-is asking for two years of house arrest.

Dickie will sentence the man at a later date.

"There are significant mitigating factors and significant aggravating factors and it's going to take the weighting of those factors in crafting an appropriate sentence," he told the court.

The man also pleaded guilty to pointing a pellet gun at his sister while driving drunk in 2010.

tolsen@chilliwacktimes.com