A Manitoba man sentenced last week to 20 years in prison is free on bail pending an appeal of his convictions for sexually assaulting his two stepdaughters for over a decade.

The 53-year-old man won his release following a contested bail hearing Thursday morning before Manitoba Court of Appeal Justice Diana Cameron.

The man was convicted of two counts of sexually assaulting the victims beginning in the early 1990s when they were six to seven years of age and continuing until they were young adults and had left home.

“The harm caused to (the victims) is profound,” King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne said at a sentencing hearing Oct. 15. “Their childhood was violently taken from them. He carefully groomed these children from an early age to comply with his sexual desires.”

Court heard at

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