A Dark Night in Welland

During the night on August 30, 2025, someone broke into a home in Welland Ontario and brutally raped a toddler.

This is the letter I wrote to the Niagara Falls Review:

When an adult intends to harm a child, something within them has died. They have chosen to shatter timelines, greet innocence with evil, and reject their own humanity.

Little "E" can heal, but she will never be the same. Her mind will not remember, but her body won't forget. She won't understand her intense fear, her debilitating anxiety. She will find fault in herself for being unable to sleep in what should have been the safest place on Earth. She will need ongoing counselling and rehabilitation. She will need the safety of privacy as she battles complex emotions for years to come. She will need her parents.

They too, were horrifically violated. Their duty of protection cut in a dark moment that could not have been anticipated. They reclaim their power in the strength they gather to guide and ground Little "E" going forward, as she turns her pain into inspiration. Her parents will need us, the greater Niagara community, to take action while they tend to what matters most.

It was a neighbour who came forward with surveillance footage that led to the arrest of D. Senecal.

Predators, be warned. You are never marked safe from the virtue of justice--you will not escape legal consequence--under the caring watch of the people of Niagara.

Senecal had previously been arrested for 2021 crimes against a little boy. 18 months in prison and 20 years on the private sex offender registry--this was his punishment.

He was released early from his sentence in 2024.

Our justice system is failing our most vulnerable. We need sentences based in reality, not idealism.

We must act.

Signed,

A survivor of a pedophile