Former Barrie resident Richard Sticklee has been released on bail while he appeals his recent conviction for sexually assaulting his stepdaughter.
He was found guilty earlier this year and sentenced to six years in prison on Oct. 13 at the Barrie courthouse.
Sticklee, 59, who also has a history of fraud, was convicted on four counts of sexual assault in January, following a three-day trial in December 2022.
"My client is pleased to have been released on bail pending appeal,” defence lawyer Howard L. Krongold told BradfordToday and InnisfilToday in a written statement.
“He maintains his innocence and intends to vigorously prosecute this appeal and establish that the trial judge erred in finding him guilty," Krongold added.
Sticklee was found guilty of sexually assaulting Trinity Waide on a number of occasions between 2000 and 2006 when she was between four to 10 years old.
“My client’s position is that the trial judge erred in law in her treatment of the complainant’s testimony, and that these errors impacted the trial judge’s analysis of the complainant’s credibility and reliability,” the defence lawyer said.
After the sentence was handed down recently, Waide, 28, she said she thought “it was a very fair and just sentence."
“I wish longer, obviously, but there’s no time we could put on this, really, to make up for what happened," she added.
Waide also said at the time she was hopeful there would not be an appeal.
“I think the case law that was used will hold up, and I don’t think it will go through," she said earlier this month.
Waide could not be reached for comment regarding Sticklee's release on bail pending the appeal.
In her victim impact statement read in court, she referred to him as “the monster lived down the hall of my bedroom.
“I called you dad. I trusted you, I loved you and I thought I was safe with you,” the statement said. “I learned not all thieves break down your door, smash your windows or threaten your life. You walked down the hall to my room to say goodnight, always leaving with a part of the innocent child I should have been."
Ontario Superior Justice Catriona Verner lifted a publication ban during the July 27 sentencing hearing, at Waide's request, which allowed the media to report Sticklee’s name.
In addition to the six-year sentence, Sticklee is prohibited from attending a public park or public swimming area where children younger than 16 are present, daycare centres or playgrounds, community centres, or be employed or volunteer where it involves being in a position of trust to anyone younger than 16, for 10 years following his incarceration. He is also prohibited, for life, from being within two kilometres of where Waide resides.
Sticklee has told the court he's being treated for three different kinds of cancers.
