Accused in violent assault on Ontario child a registered sex offender: court docs

The accused in a violent sexual assault that police say sent a child under the age of five to an out-of-region hospital previously spent time in custody for sexual assault, Global News has learned.

Court documents show Daniel Senecal, 25, was found guilty of sexual assault in a Sept. 2021 incident and ordered to comply with the Sex Offender Information Registration Act as one of the conditions for release in March 2024.

He was initially charged with sexual assault, sexual interference of a person under 16 and attempt to strangle during sexual assault in a Sept. 25, 2021 incident, in Welland, Ont.

In Dec. 2023, Senecal was found guilty of sexual assault and was acquitted of the attempt to strangle charge. The sexual interference charge was stayed in accordance with R. v. Kineapple, a 1974 case that found that “where a lack of consent has been proved, age ceases to be a distinguishing factor between the two offences” and that “nobody can be convicted more than once in respect of the same act.”

Senecal was released in March 2024 with conditions, including an order to comply with the Sex Offender Information Registration Act for 20 years.

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A publication ban is in effect in connection with the 2021 incident in order to protect the identity of the victim.

Senecal is now accused in an incident over the long weekend that Niagara Regional Police say involved a suspect breaking into a home and sexually assaulting a child.

Police say they received a “medical assistance call involving a child under the age of 5” just before 9 a.m. Sunday from a home in the area of Crowland Avenue and York Street in Welland.

Police say that when officers arrived, they noticed the front door showed signs of being forced open. The child was assessed at the home and paramedics transported them to hospital for advanced care, where they were said to be in stable condition as of Monday. On Wednesday, police said that “the child remains in hospital receiving care.”

Thanks to video surveillance in the neighbourhood, police say they were able to identify a suspect.

Senecal is charged with aggravated sexual assault on a person under 16, assault, assault/choking, break and enter, and sexual interference with a person under 16.