Plenty of tears have once again been shed in court for a little girl horrifically sexually abused for almost a year by her mother's boyfriend, who also invited others to join in.

This time - at the now ex-boyfriend's sentencing hearing on Friday - the tears were accompanied by a statement from a local women's coalition on behalf of all abused Hamilton women and children.

The 35-year-old man pleaded guilty on Nov. 17 to repeatedly sexually assaulting his former girlfriend's seven-year-old daughter, videotaping the abuse and advertising online for others to join him.

Three other adults have already pleaded guilty in the Craigslist abuse case and have received sentences ranging from three years and seven months to eight years in prison.

The ex-boyfriend's appearance on Friday was solely for a sentencing hearing.

Assistant Crown attorney Janet Booy asked the judge to give him 15 years in prison, saying the horror that happened to the girl is "unfathomable."

The man's lawyer, Corey Cornale, suggested 10 years, pointing out the man has pleaded guilty, sparing everyone a trial.

The man returns on Feb. 16 to be sentenced.

Court also heard, through a pre-sentence report and Gladue report - a type of pre-sentence report for Indigenous offenders - that the man suffered sexual abuse when he was a child. But the Crown and defence agreed that is no excuse.

The man, who cannot be named because of a publication ban protecting the identity of his young victim, has pleaded guilty to sexual interference, making child pornography and possession of child pornography for the abuse that spanned from June 2015 to April 2016.

The abuse followed a pattern: the man would wait for everyone in the Hamilton house, including the mother, her 16-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, to fall asleep. He would then carry the youngest downstairs, dress her in lingerie, abuse her and record it all, court has heard.

The repeated abuse only stopped when the girl told her biological father about it. (The man had told her not to tell anyone or she would be in big trouble, court has heard.)

On Friday, the court heard two heart-wrenching victim impact statements, including one from Lenore Lukasik-Foss with the Woman Abuse Working Group (WAWG) - a coalition of 20 Hamilton agencies - on behalf of the community.

"The notion that Hamilton is the best place to raise a child has been profoundly shaken by these offences," Lukasik-Foss said. "Our community feels less safe and we are collectively heartbroken for those who have been harmed."

She said it was particularly distressing that a number of people were involved in abusing the child and that the internet was used to distribute images of child sexual abuse and to get others to participate in the assault.

The crimes have produced "a heightened sense of distrust and fear," have implications for our perception of safety and "undermine our confidence in the safety of our community," she said.

A victim statement from the girl's aunt was read out by Booy at the aunt's request.

"Since these traumatic events, I can tell you that for me, I am barely surviving," she said. "There is not a day that goes by that I don't think of the horrific things that have happened to my niece . It disgusts me to think that this is the actions of not one person, but that there were five of them .. Just hearing all the graphic details has torn me to my core."

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The aunt said she is afraid to leave her house, struggles with depression and anxiety and fears going to sleep because of the nightmares she has of her tiny niece's "tortuous rape sessions."

"I have feelings of guilt, shame, anger, sadness and loss . I often feel like I didn't protect her, I failed her. Somehow I feel that I should have noticed the warning signs, but there were none."

If she, as an adult, feels this way, she can't help wonder about the impact on her niece, she said. That someone would make arrangements to hurt a child "on purpose" is unforgivable, she added.