Man pleads guilty to west Edmonton child kidnapping, sexual assault
CBC
WARNING: This article contains details of sexual abuse.
An Edmonton man has admitted to kidnapping and sexually abusing an eight-year-old girl who was a stranger to him.
Wade Stene, 39, pleaded guilty to one count each of kidnapping, sexual assault and sexual touching in Edmonton's Court of Queen's Bench of Friday.
The young girl's identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban. Her parents and aunts and uncles were in the courtroom Friday.
Stene appeared by video from jail, wearing a mask and a jumpsuit.
Following Stene's guilty pleas, Crown prosecutor Ioana Corabian read an agreed statement of facts to the court that detailed what happened on March 10, 2020.
The girl, who was eight years old at the time, had been playing with a friend who lived nearby in the west Edmonton neighbourhood of McQueen.
When it was time for dinner, she was making the short trip home across an alley when a white vehicle drove up. A man wearing a mask got out, grabbed her and put her in the back of the vehicle.
He bound her with tape and then drove her to a remote location where he sexually assaulted her.
Describing what happened to police, the child told investigators she was "terrified" and "felt like crying."
She said she was worried he had a knife.
"It was really scary," the child said, according to Corabian.
After the assault, the man dropped the girl off back in the neighbourhood. She recognized a field where she normally plays after school, and started making her way home.
Her parents had been out searching for her, and found her walking on McQueen Road. At the time, police said the abduction lasted about 40 minutes.
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