A Cochrane family had to relive their nightmare for a fourth time in the Calgary courts this week. An appeal was made on behalf of Allan Dean Griffin on Tuesday, who was found guilty in 2017 of sexually abusing his young stepdaughters and sentenced to nine years in prison. The appeal is part of an eight-year process involving two trials and a sentencing. Justice Keith Yamauchi originally acquitted Allan in December 2013. The verdict was appealed five days later and a re-trial later found him guilty. Griffin was accused of sexually assaulting his two stepdaughters and his own biological daughter while they were between the ages of five and eight, and for one of the stepdaughters, until her early teens. Now young adults, the trauma from the assaults is being constantly relived in the Calgary courts. “It’s unbelievable to me, that the court system can just keep on going on and on and on,” said Dawn Duggan, mother of Griffin's biological daughter who also testified against him in the retrial. “We’re at the mercy of the courts. We just hope for the best all the time.” Lisa Fox said she’s proud of her daughters for coming forward and for testifying in court all these years, but hopes for an end to it all. While her daughter Taylor French made a court appearance for the appeal, Kylie French did not. “It says a lot,” Fox said of Kylie’s absence. “Kylie’s done right now. She’s already relived this too much. She’s damaged. It’s painful. Especially with him being in the room." The mothers of the victims said that no matter what sentence Griffin carries out, the trauma of the assaults are a “life sentence” for the family. “He gets nine years, we get life,” Fox said. “You go through all those emotions every single time you get that email or you get that call. It’s like what now? Now we’ve got to go through this again. Now our kids will have to relive their abuse again and again. Like when does it stop?” Duggan said. “He’s abused them for all these years and they’re still going through that. They’re adults now and they’re having problems in their relationships, trusting and all that.” Both Duggan and Fox said the girls are happy to bring sexual assault to light. “It’s just so insidious and that’s why the girls are so strong— it’s because this is so wrong,” Duggan said. “They don’t want this to happen to other kids,” Fox said. Taylor said she isn’t worried about the outcome of the appeal and is confident he’ll remain guilty. “There’s no way in hell he’s getting out because he’s guilty for what he did,” Taylor told the Cochrane Eagle after the hearing. “At the end of the day, we’ve done this five times now. At the end, I’m always coming out on top.” Though the judicial process has been difficult, she said she no longer is afraid to talk about what happened. “It became something that I never wanted to talk about ever to something that I can bring up and not be affected by it at all. Like no emotional attachment to it because if I put emotional attachment to it I’ll be destroyed by it,” Taylor said. A decision from the appeal has yet to be made.
