Convicted pedophile describes 'horrible' childhood at dangerous offender hearing

A convicted pedophile described childhood abuse, bullying and undergoing treatment involving electric shocksas he testified Monday at a Halifax court hearingto determine whether he should belocked up indefinitely.

The Crown wants 53-year-old Alexander (Sandy)William Hart, who is originally from PictouCounty, N.S., declareda dangerous offender.

Last month, forensic psychiatrist Scott Theriault described Hart as an "anti-social narcissist with a personality disorder" and told a Halifax provincial court judge hispedophilia "isn't necessarily treatable."

Hart has a string of convictions dating back to his first offence of indecent assault when he was just 16.He wasalso charged and convicted of sexually assaulting boys in the mid-1990s when he was a truck driver.

In 2015, he started a relationship with woman who had young kids, violatingthe conditionof a long-term supervision order forbidding him from being near children. It prompted prosecutors to seek the dangerous offender designation.

During testimony Monday, Hart described a dysfunctional childhood. He said his mother abandoned him and his four sisters when he was just six. His father worked for Northumberland Ferriesat the time and was seldom home.

Hart told Judge Elizabeth Buckle that after a year away, his mother returned. But she didn't stay. Instead she returned to the new life she had in Yukon, taking two of his sisters with her. At the time, he said his oldest sister told him,"She left you because you're too bad."

"That comment just destroyed me," he testified. He said he was about eight years old.

Hart says he suffered childhood abuse

It was around the same time that Hart said he was abused by a 17-year-old boy in the neighbourhood. He said he would later learn that the teen abused several of the children Hart played with.

At the age of nine, Hart said he was molested by an older man. He also saidhe was molested by a woman. His problems didn't end there.

"I had horrible, horrible schooling from Grade 5 on in Pictou," he said. Hart said he was subject to relentless bullying.

Several treatment attempts

Following his first conviction at the age of 16, Hart said he was sent for treatment at a hospital in Halifax. Hart told court it consisted of having metal rods strapped to his wrists. He was then shown pictures of partially clad young boys. As he watched, he said an electric current was sent through the rods, burning his wrists.

"It was incredibly uncomfortable," he said.

Hart also described a treatment program at the prison in Abbotsford, B.C., where he served time. He said the program was ineffective for him.

"The program was to make you feel that you were the worst individual that was ever born," he said. He left before completing the full course of treatment.

Abuse described as coping mechanism

He described the sexual abuse of young boys as a coping mechanism the same way someone else might use alcohol.

Hart said when he was feeling stress or anxiety, he would seek out sex to make him feel better. But he said that feeling was short-lived and he has since come to realize that isnot the way to live.

Hart told court that in some of the group therapy sessions, participants learned not to talk about their fantasies lest authorities use their comments as a reason to send them back to prison.

The Crown will cross-examine Hart Tuesday, and lawyers for both sides must make closing arguments before Buckle makes her decision on sentencing.