CRYSTAL METH 'A PLAGUE'

By all accounts, Brian Abrosimo, 43, suffered a miserable
childhood.

Marginally mentally retarded and afflicted with an attention deficit
disorder, he was severely picked on at school and accepted by none of
his peers.

His lawyer, David Karp, told his sentencing hearing in April that
Abrosimo was sent to a specialized school in Victoria when he was a
young boy. It was a horrible experience in which the boy was
ostracized, and verbally, physically and sexually abused, Karp said.

In a statement dictated after he was sentenced last Friday to 18 years
in prison, Abrosimo shed light on another aspect of his life, that of
a man hooked on cocaine and crystal meth.

"During these last two years of incarceration since I committed my
crime, the media has often painted me as a monster -- shown a side of
me that is ugly. Sadly, they are right to a point," his statement began.

"What I did to these young girls was horrific," he admitted. "If I
could go back and undo that day, the horrible days since then for
them, I would give my life to do that for them."

Abrosimo said that despite his childhood problems and conflicts with
the law, he has been "gainfully employed, clean and sober for years on
end prior to receiving head injuries in accidents."

He turned to alcohol and drugs to deal with physical and emotional
pain, and before the Aug. 12, 2004 kidnapping and sexual assault of an
11-year-old Aldergrove girl, he had never hurt a child.

He said he had been in relationships "where I have been like a father
to the children of the relationship, their safety and protection was
always paramount to me."

Yet, said the father of twin 17-year-old boys, "here I went and did
the very thing I normally despise -- I caused innocents pain,
suffering and humiliation that continues even to this day because I
choose to deal with my own pain by doing drugs."

He said he was not excusing his behaviour, and took responsibility for
taking drugs.

Abrosimo said he was aware that by using drugs and alcohol to cover
his pain, he created pain for his victims, their families, friends,
and the community

Abrosimo said that crystal meth "is a monster, creates monsters (and)
is a plague that needs every possible effort to be stomped out by
society. I never realized what my drug addiction was doing to myself,
my family and others."

He urged young people contemplating the drug to think again. "It is
not worth it," he said.

He ends: "This has been a very hard lesson for me to learn as I have
struggled with drug addiction for many years, and I am so sorry it had
to take this horrible crime of mine to bring it to an end. I am truly
sorry and remorseful for all the damage to all my victims and the community."

Karp said, "From day one there was no doubt in my mind that he is
remorseful."