VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Kenneth Klassen says he's sorry for what he has done with all his heart, but that hasn't saved him from a lengthy jail term.
The 59-year-old Burnaby man has been given a sentence of 11 years in B.C. Supreme Court this morning. He pleaded guilty to having sex with underage girls in Colombia and Cambodia.
Justice Austin Cullen concluded the trial saying Klassen's remorse was less than complete and that he had a "callous preoccupation" with his own pleasure.
He admitted to having sex with over a dozen girls under the age of 14 and to importing child porn. Ten of the 11-year sentence are for his interaction with the girls, the other year is for the child porn charge.
Meanwhile, Daisy Kler with the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter calls the sentence an achievement. "Sexual violence cases rarely get to court. The fact that this has gone through the court system and he's been sentenced, sends a very good message to men which is 'stop buying girls and women.' Whether it's here in Vancouver or abroad."
Brian McConaghy with the Ratanak Foundation - which rehabilitates abused girls in Cambodia - is confident this case will send a message. "One of the things that's useful over trials like this is that society can start to grasp what's really going on, and that Canadians are active predators in this. This is what this man is. He's a predator."
The judge also agreed to a Crown request that Klassen be required to submit his DNA to the National Sex Offender Registry. He has been given a lifelong prohibition from going to playgrounds, school grounds, or parks, as well as a 10-year weapons ban.