Article content continued

That he managed to loosen his chains and escape is what led to the child-abuse case against his father and stepmom, who were both found guilty on Monday at the Elgin Street courthouse. They have been jailed while they await sentencing.

“I was terrified, hungry and thirsty. I couldn’t take it anymore. My entertainment was (staring at) a wall and I was just getting hurt and burned. I was scared to death,” the boy told court at trial.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger heaped praise on the terrorized boy, who had to relive the horror as he testified across three days at trial.

“That a parent could do the things that were done (to the boy) was gut-wrenching. That being said, however, the fact that this half-starved, burned and battered 11-year-old could somehow summon the strength to escape his cruel captivity and later seemingly rise above it, is a testament to the indomitability of the human spirit,” the judge told court.

The judge-alone case against the ex-Mountie and his wife was anchored in their own statements — including the disgraced officer’s own cellphone video footage of the abuse. In his police interview back in 2013, he admitted to the crimes against the child but tried to justify it as discipline.

The father took the stand in his own defence at trial, and portrayed himself as the victim and tried to explain that he thought his boy was possessed. At his wit’s end, he said he started confining his son and rationing his meals.