A Halifax man has been sentenced to four years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl and then pimping her out to other men.

But because Duncan Robertson Wright has spent so much time in jail while his case made its way through the courts, he faces only another four months in custody before he's released on probation.

Wright, 46, initially faced 25 sex-related charges relating to eight complainants.

But by the time his trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court opened earlier this month, the other seven complainants had dropped out. He pleaded guilty to two charges involving the one remaining girl.

In an agreed statement of facts, court was told that the girl met Wright through the classified ad website Backpages where she claimed to be an 18-year-old offering sex.

She was only 16 at the time the ad was posted. Her identity is protected by a publication ban.

In the statement, the girl said she was paid $120 for having sex with Wright. She then told him her true age.

Girl worked out of Wright's home

Wright had the girl work out of his home, selling sex to other men.

As a term of this arrangement, the girl told police she was required to have sex with Wright whenever he demanded, without payment. The girl worked out of Wright's home for about eight months, ending in March 2017.

"After the offence, I went looking for a way to ease the emotional pain and shortly after became addicted to cocaine," the girl wrote in a victim impact statement that was introduced at Wright's sentencing on Friday.

"It has been a crippling addiction. Every day is a battle not to use."

The girl wrote that she has depression, anxiety, psychosis and PTSD.

Victim no longer lives in Halifax

She no longer lives in Halifax and was not present during Friday's hearing.

"I can't tell you how painful this has been," her father wrote in a statement of his own. "To watch my child disintegrate before me."

"The images of the sexual assault, the violence, the manipulation, the exploitation, the predatory nature of the events permanently etched in my mind," the girl's mother wrote in the third statement that was presented to the court.

Wright made videos of some of the sexual encounters. The mother said those videos were held over the girl as a threat to make sure she did as he demanded.

'Dodged seven bullets'

Crown prosecutor Perry Borden said Wright got a break when the other seven complainants refused to continue. "He actually dodged seven bullets," Borden said.

Borden said there are several reasons why the others dropped out, including mental health, addictions and the notion that testifying would be viewed on the street as snitching.

Wright apologized when given a chance to address the court.

"My own base instincts overruled my sense of right and wrong," he said.

Wright said that at one point, he weighed 535 pounds and then decided to stop using food as a crutch. That's when he says he became addicted to sex.

He had been granted bail earlier in the case with his family acting as sureties. But Wright's lawyer, Brian Church, said after family members received death threats for housing Wright, they ended the sureties and returned him to jail.

Judge says he can only deal with charges in front of him

In passing sentence, Justice Kevin Coady addressed his remarks to the families and the public.

"It is not surprising that they're scratching their heads and saying, 'What happened?'" the judge said.

But he also said he can only deal with the evidence and the law as it pertains to the two charges Wright accepted and not the other charges he initially faced.

Once he's completed his sentence, Wright will be on probation for two years. His name will be on the national sex offender registry for the rest of his life and his DNA has been added to the national data bank.

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