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Three years after she was raped at knifepoint in her own bedroom, the Ottawa woman still has nightmares.

The woman says she blames herself, but as court heard Friday, disgraced Sunday school teacher James Stewart is the only one to blame for the June 2016 knifepoint rapes that left her devastated.

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Superior Court Michelle O’Bonsawin sentenced Stewart to five years for the “unacceptable and deplorable” criminal acts.

“The sexual assaults occurred in the sanctity of (her) bedroom where (she) should have felt safe,” the judge noted in her sentencing, which also requires Stewart to be registered as a sex offender and submit to a DNA sample for the police database.

Stewart, 38, was an army corporal at the time of the crimes.

“It was terrifying,” the woman, in tears, recalled at trial.

Photo by Julie Oliver / Postmedia

Stewart raped her at knifepoint in her own bedroom. He pressed the knife to her throat and explained how easy it would be to disfigure her face so no other man would want her. He said if she told anyone, she’d regret it.