FORCED GIRL, 13, TO SMOKE CRACK, CAMBRIDGE MAN JAILED 3 YEARS

KITCHENER -- A 13-year-old girl was in court yesterday as the man who broke
into her house, blindfolded her and forced her to smoke crack was sentenced
to three years in prison.

It was a case the judge described as "bizarre" because 40-year-old Daniel
VanBroeck of Cambridge never gave a good explanation for his actions.

He was a close friend of the girl's mother and his computer was in her
house, Kitchener's Ontario Court heard. VanBroeck told his lawyer, John
Lang, that he wanted to remove the computer chip and sell it to buy crack
cocaine.

But he also said he was so high on crack after a 16-day "run" that he
didn't remember much about the incident.

SECOND OFFENCE

In 1993, VanBroeck was sent to prison for eight years for a similar
incident. In that case, he confined and stabbed a woman in Brantford.

The mother of the 13-year-old said outside court VanBroeck should have
received at least the same sentence for what he did to her daughter.

"I feel (the sentence) was light," she said.

Her daughter said she wanted him to stay in prison forever.

The incident happened on May 31 when VanBroeck kicked in the rear door of
the family's Cambridge home at 6:50 a.m. He went upstairs to the girl's
bedroom, put something over her head and took her to the kitchen, where he
forced her to inhale from a pipe containing crack cocaine.

She inhaled twice before choking and crying. VanBroeck then took her to the
basement where she tried to phone her mother. He punched her twice in the
face, then blindfolded her.

He then made her lie on the floor with a blanket over her head. When he
went upstairs to get something, the girl grabbed the chance to escape to a
neighbour's.

The girl's mother said VanBroeck, described in her victim-impact statement
as her "best friend," had no reason to break into their house. He could
have knocked and they would have let him in, she said. It was his computer,
and he was entitled to take it.

In her statement, she wondered if he really had "impure motives."

"I was just speculating," she said outside court. The computer
(explanation) is just not good enough."

She said her daughter still has nightmares. The girl submitted a victim
impact statement in which she said she used to think VanBroeck was a "nice
guy." He spent time at their house and gave her gifts.

DOESN'T FEEL SAFE

Now, she said she "wants him to die." She doesn't feel safe living in her
house anymore.

VanBroeck pleaded guilty in June to administering a noxious substance,
break and enter and forcible confinement.

A man with a long pony tail, he appeared subdued as he sat in the
prisoner's dock. His lawyer outlined a "tragic and abusive childhood" which
Justice Gary Hearn said has undoubtedly contributed to his crimes.

There was "heavy drinking" in VanBroeck's background, Lang said. He
suffered physical and emotional abuse at home. His sister is in a
psychiatric hospital as a result of sexual abuse by her father and brother.

VanBroeck became a Crown ward at age 10, and was placed in the infamous St.
John's Training School, outside Uxbridge, run by the Christian Brothers
Catholic order. There, he was among hundreds of boys who were sexually
abused between the 1950s and 1970s in one of the largest child abuse
scandals in Canadian history.

The Ontario government paid out about $13 million to abuse victims at St.
John's and St. Joseph's Training School, in 1996. VanBroeck got a
settlement of $18,000, Lang said.

COCAINE BINGE

The lawyer said recent media reports about sexual abuse by priests sparked
VanBroeck's latest cocaine binge. He had been doing well since getting out
of prison, was working and was well liked by staff and employees, Lang
said. They were all shocked at his crime.

The judge said, considering his background and time in prison, he was
impressed by a background report on VanBroeck prepared by a probation
officer. Hearn noted parole officials rated his chances for reintegration
into society as good.

But VanBroeck, apparently, isn't upset at going back to prison. Hearn said
he told the probation officer, "Returning to jail is not stressful. It's
like home."

While acknowledging VanBroeck was a victim of abuse, Crown prosecutor
Cynthia Jennison said he has now created another victim in the teenage
girl. She called for a prison term of three to four years.

VanBroeck was given seven months credit for time spent in pretrial custody,
on top of the three-year penitentiary term.