Edmonton- A former caretaker of an Edmonton church who tied two naked teen girls he was babysitting to his bed and sexually abused them was put behind bars yesterday.

Rejecting a defence pitch for a conditional sentence to be served in the community, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice William Wilson sentenced Cor Van Den Boogaard, 58, to six months in jail to be followed by two years on probation.

“I have concluded that a custodial sentence in an institution is warranted. I feel that there is a need for punishment, deterrence, treatment and confinement that is to be found in a custodial sentence,” said Wilson, who described the attack as “bizarre” and a form of sexual play involving bondage.

Wilson also cited a psychiatric assessment of Van Den Boogaard which says he is reluctant to accept blame and maintains he was “manipulated by the victims.”

Van Den Boogaard, a married father of four and grandfather of four, was convicted by a jury of two counts of sex assault and two counts of sexual interference on April 27.

At trial, the two victims, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, testified they were sexually abused by Van Den Boogaard in 2003 when they were 11 and 13.

The court found Van Den Boogaard tied the naked girls together and to his bed while baby-sitting them and he caressed their breasts and sprayed water on their bodies.

The jury heard the girls’ mother first met Van Den Boogaard about six years earlier after going for help to the Bethel Christian Reformed Church of Edmonton, 14204 25 St., where he worked as a caretaker.

Van Den Boogaard invited the family to live with his family for a month and the mother of the girls became close with him, telling jurors he was a trusted “best friend.”

Wilson said the victim impact statement the mother read in court, which detailed her anguish, was “one of the most compelling” he had ever heard.

In the statement, the girls’ mom said: “The one person I trusted above all others chose to not only violate my daughters, but me as well.”

During the trial, the oldest victim tearfully testified Van Den Boogaard twice performed oral sex on them and once sprayed them with whipped cream and then licked it off.