Sentencing of father in Maryk abduction case postponed
CBC News | Posted: June 30, 2014 11:11 AM | Last Updated: July 1, 2014
Kevin Maryk pleaded guilty to abducting his 2 children, Abby and Dominic Maryk, in 2008
The father of two Winnipeg children who disappeared in 2008 and were found almost four years later in Mexico will have to wait to see what sentence he'll receive for his role in the children's abduction.
Kevin Maryk pleaded guilty last week to two counts of abduction in the case of Abby and Dominic Maryk, who went missing in August 2008.
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Maryk was expected to be sentenced on Monday, but the court heard arguments all day. The hearing will continue on July 7.
At the time of their disappearance, Abby and Dominic — who were five and seven years old, respectively — were on a two-week vacation as part of a court-approved visit with Maryk.
Their mother, Emily Cablek, maintains legal custody.
The children were found in a townhouse complex in Guadalajara, Mexico, in May 2012 and reunited with their mother in Winnipeg soon after.
Maryk and a co-accused, Robert Groen, were arrested shortly after the discovery and brought back to Canada as well.
The Crown is seeking a five-year sentence for Maryk, while the defence is asking for 18 months, including the time he has already served in custody.
Groen was sentenced to one year in jail after he pleaded guilty to abduction-related charges earlier this month.
Mother of abducted in court
Cablek was present for Monday's sentencing hearing but left while a recording of her victim impact statement was played in court.
In the recording, Cablek said she still struggles from anxiety, depression and nightmares after Dominic and Abby were abducted six years ago.
The court also heard more details about what Maryk’s children went through while they were in Guadalajara.
The children did not attend school during their four-year stint in Mexico and were allegedly kept indoors all day in poor conditions, then often taken to parties in the evening by Maryk, Cablek said.
In her victim impact statement, Cablek said she noticed her kids had developed bad behaviours in the time spent with Maryk.
According to the recording, Cablek said her son often talked about crime, gangs, guns and “corrupt cops” and “how they can be paid off.”
Her daughter Abby did a lot better reintegrating to life in Canada, but refuses to talk about the experience in Mexico, she added.
Cablek also said in her victim impact statement that both kids have social, emotional and academic issues.
"I'm so scared that things, no matter what I do, are never gonna work out," Cablek said in the recording.
Maryk's letters read in court
Letters sent by Maryk in jail to his relatives were also read in court.
In one letter, Maryk denied he and the kids lived in poor conditions, and that it was police that messed up the home after they seized the kids in Guadalajara.
In the letters he also asks family where the kids are and where they were going to school, the Crown suggesting Maryk might still be plotting to take the kids again.
Maryk's lawyer insisted his client is not trying to take the kids again. He said his motivation for taking them in the first place was to protect the kids from their mother and her alleged drug use at the time.
Maryk is being held in custody until the hearing resumes on July 7.