A man who had sex with and impregnated his foster daughter cried in court Wednesday afternoon as he begged the judge to spare him jail time.

“There are no words to express just how sorry I am or have been since the DNA order revealed I was the father,” the man said, his hands shaking as he read off a piece of paper.

“Your Honour, I’m begging you and the court for mercy due to my age and poor health ... I do believe a jail term would be the end of me.”

Any information identifying the victim is banned from publication, so the Star is not identifying the man.

The case is an historic one – court heard the girl became pregnant around her 16th birthday in 1976.

She moved in with the man and his wife at their home in New Brunswick after running away from her previous foster home, where she said she was being sexually assaulted by her foster father.

She lived with the couple until she moved back in with her mother in ’77.

That year, she gave birth to a daughter.

Court documents say she was sure the man is the father, as he was the only person she’d had sex with in the previous year.

In 2012, she contacted police in New Brunswick, and they launched an investigation.

Police located the man, now in his 60s, in Whitehorse, and requested a DNA sample to determine the child’s paternity.

“(The man) told police he would only consent if another individual was required to provide a sample as well and that he thought (her) allegations were ‘about money,’” the documents say.

In October 2012, police executed a warrant for a sample of the man’s DNA.

The test found he was indeed the father.

At the man’s request, the Provincial Court of New Brunswick transferred the case to the Yukon.

Two victim impact statements – by the woman and her daughter – were filed in court on Wednesday.

“This had a serious psychological impact on the complainant,” said Crown prosecutor David McWhinnie, adding that she struggled financially as she raised her child as a single mother.

He spoke at length about the complexity of this case, being that the offence dates back nearly 40 years and the Criminal Code of Canada has changed several times since then, as have sentencing standards.

Aggravating factors, McWhinnie said, are that a pregnancy occurred and that the man was in a position of trust.

After reading the pre-sentence report, he said it seems the man has no insight into how difficult this has made her life, though he should be given credit for pleading guilty and not having her testify.

The man’s lawyer, Gordon Coffin, argued for a conditional sentence, which is served not in jail but in the community.

“There is nothing to indicate he would be a danger to the community if he were serving a sentence conditionally,” he said, citing his client’s lack of a criminal record since the offence occurred.

Judge Peter Chisholm said he needed some time to make his decision.

That’s scheduled to be heard Sept. 22.