Dungeon maker gets 2 years in jail
Posted October 4, 2012 10:06 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An Oshawa man who built a dungeon in an abandoned farmhouse to confine his ex-wife’s friend was sentenced to two years in jail on Thursday for what the judge called a “sinister” plan and an “appalling error of judgment.”
Robert White, 45, pleaded guilty last month to break and enter with intent to commit the indictable offence of forcible confinement.
“He never relinquished his sinister plan,” Justice Mary Teresa Devlin said, noting the case has had a “devastating effect” on the intended victim who continues to suffer from nightmares and “lives in fear.”
The sentence includes eight months of pre-trail custody, which means White will serve 16 months. White also received three years of probation and has been ordered to have no contact with his ex-wife, Patricia, or his intended victim Gwen Armstrong and her husband. He also has no access to his children except through a family court order.
White admitted to building the confinement room in the basement of a vacant farmhouse on Concession 7 at the York-Durham Line in Pickering with the intention of kidnapping Armstrong.
He blames Armstrong’s friendship with his ex-wife for the limited access he has to his children.
Justice Devlin cited a doctor’s report during the hearing, which states White is at low risk for future criminal activity. That report also said White has a borderline personality disorder.
The room, which was constructed over 18 months, was discovered in the 136-year-old farmhouse on federal land in November 2011. The building was slated for demolition when contractors stumbled on the dungeon.
The farmhouse was destroyed in a fire last January.
“Pleading guilty to this charge is ordinary but what is extraordinary about this case is Mr. White’s multiple entries to the abandoned home were for the nefarious purpose of constructing a room to confine a specific person,” Justice Devlin said Thursday.
“Also the construction of the room occurred over a lengthy period of time with considerable planning and horrifying attention to details such as the sealed shatter proof windows, the cement walls with double layers of fiberglass insulation and the heavy reinforced door.”
With files from Marianne Boucher
