Sexual predator released from jail

Grandmother blames self for now knowing his history

Posted By Maria Calabrese

A grandmother doesn’t know when she’ll see her grandson again after she mistakenly let him spend time alone with a tenant in her building who turned out to be a sexual predator. 

“I was debating taking my own life because of it,” she said, breaking down in tears outside the courtroom.

 “I feel that, being a victim, I should have seen some signs.”

David Candy, 63, has a record for sex offences dating back to the 1970s, including sex assaults against a boy that had him sentenced to seven months in jail in 2003, and almost three months behind bars after he was picked up again in 2006 for an indecent act against another boy.

Other charges for gross indecency and indecent assault against a male were dealt with as a peace bond.

But Candy — a registered sex offender — also has a string of charges for violating court orders to stay away from children. He was most recently arrested in September after moving into a building for seniors in North Bay, earning the grandmother’s trust and spending time alone with her grandson while he was on probation to stay away from kids.

Candy, who has been in custody since his arrest in September, pleaded guilty Friday to violating that probation order and was released for time served.

Candy was again placed on probation for three years with the same order to avoid places where children under the age of 16 are usually found, unless he’s accompanied by a responsible adult.

The grandmother grew suspicious when she realized Candy was alone with her grandson in a washroom, although there’s no evidence the man was aroused by the situation or that he molested the child.

“I haven’t seen him in a while,” the woman said of her grandson, noting the incident caused a rift among family members, including some who have experienced physical and sexual abuse in their own lives.

“And now because he (Candy) is getting out, I don’t even want my grandson in my place anymore. I don’t feel safe right now.

”The maximum sentence in this case is six months in jail. Candy has already spent three months in custody since his arrest, counted as double time or six months because he didn’t have access to programs that are available to inmates serving a sentence.

But the grandmother remains frustrated that the justice system doesn’t protect children, even though the judge said measures were put in place last year to ensure some kind of safety to young people in the community. 

“Regretfully, those measures failed,” said Ontario Court Justice Jean-Gilles Lebel.