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He complained about the hardship of fatherhood, saying he had to feed his newborn son every couple of hours and report for work on little sleep. He said his life was upside down and complained: “I had no time to shower.”

“I was a full-time nurse and a full-time RCMP officer, and I had no help,” he testified.

In his own words, he freaked out and said, “I can’t handle being a nurse and a police officer.”

So he walked away, but when the boy’s mother died in 2009, he sought and was granted full custody of the child.

But he said his son was different, and so indecent that he reminded him of a bad childhood friend.

“Who is this stranger in my house? I was not looking at a little kid. I was dealing with a kid that’s been there and done that,” the father testified.

The boy, who testified at the trial back in October, said his father wanted him to feel like he was in jail and that the man had punished him to “rid my demons.”

The boy said his father would only come downstairs to feed or beat him. He escaped his suburban dungeon in February 2013, in search of water. Having been fed two peanut butter pitas a day, court has heard, he weighed only 50 pounds when he got loose from his chains. Doctors said he almost starved to death, the court has heard.

His father would videotape disturbing interrogations of his shackled and naked son, forcing him to confess so-called sins, such as kissing a girl up in a tree. The videos, seized from the father’s cellphone, were shown in court. “I’ve had enough of my punishment … I’ll show you I can change,” the boy pleads in one.