An 86-year-old Manitoba man already convicted of sexually assaulting three of his daughters is now fighting to stay out of jail for molesting his mentally challenged granddaughter.

The man served the double-time equivalent of 11 months in jail before he was released on bail. Prosecutors say he should serve another seven months in custody.

Prosecutors are seeking a six-month jail sentence. Defence lawyer Jay Prober said that would be a "death sentence" for a man doctors say just has months, if not weeks or days, left to live.

"He can barely walk, he can barely stand," said Prober, who asked that Justice Deborah McCawley order probation with conditions akin to a conditional sentence order.

"Maybe he doesn't deserve it, but I'm asking the court on humanitarian grounds, more for his family than for him," Prober said. "This is certainly going to be his last Christmas and New Year's with his family."

Court heard the man was arrested in 2008 after his-then 13-year-old granddaughter told police he had groped her genitals and breasts at a family gathering. When arrested, the man admitted he had molested the girl in a similar fashion two years earlier. Asked if he touched the girl "by accident," the man said "no, it was done out of habit."

In 1998 the then 71-year-old man was convicted of four counts of incest involving three daughters and sentenced to eight years in prison. He was also convicted of sexually assaulting a girl who would later become his daughter-in-law as well as an adult daughter-in-law.

Prober said the man was sexually abused by his mother as a child.

Crown attorney Libby Standil said the man has no insight, minimizes his actions and maintains he "raised (his daughters) good."

Prison "obviously hasn't deterred him," Standil said.

McCawley adjourned sentencing to Jan. 28 to consider whether the man should be allowed to serve a non-custodial sentence.

"But for his failing health he would certainly be facing a jail sentence," she said.

dean.pritchard@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @deanatwpgsun