A sexual predator who molested young girls and brutally attacked women agreed he should be locked up indefinitely due to his uncontrollable violent behaviour.

As six victims of his crimes watched from the courtroom, Nicholas Finelli consented to being declared a dangerous offender, which is rare as it carries the longest term under the Criminal Code: An indefinite sentence.

"You show a sexual preference for pre-pubescent and pubescent children," Justice Frank Marrocco said in passing sentence.

Finelli, 45, molested six young girls and assaulted former girlfriends and family members over the past two decades, court heard.

Crown attorney Julia Forward sought the designation and Finelli's lawyer, Paul Slocumbe, agreed yesterday, bringing the sentencing hearing to a sudden end.

LIFE 'HAS BEEN HELL'

Finelli's victims were relieved and described the devastating effects of his abuse.

"It has been hell. He deserves to spend the rest of his life in jail," said one former girlfriend, now 51, who lived with him in Toronto in the mid-1990s. "He'd beat you up, rape you and then show no remorse whatsoever.

"He abused me daily. I still can't believe it's over," said the woman, who moved to Peterborough out of fear of Finelli.

Two adult survivors of Finelli's sexual abuse said they bear the psychological scars of being molested as pre-teens.

LIVED IN FEAR

"I have had a life sentence," said the now 30-year-old, eyes filling with tears. "I was six to eight years old. For years I was afraid to be alone with my own father. Then, as an adult I had an abusive relationship because of this abuse. Now, I have a husband who loves me and treats me like a princess," the woman said outside court.

Finelli was arrested in January 2007 after having sexually abused a seven-year-old in a west-end Toronto elementary school bathroom.

His photo was aired on TV newscasts and another victim, a now-32-year-old mother of three, saw his face and reported to police that he'd abused her at her parents' cottage in the Haliburton area in 1987.

Finelli pleaded guilty last year to that offence a few months after admitting to the brazen bathroom attack for which he was held by two school-bus drivers.

"This will haunt me to the day I die. I now have a fear for my children's safety every day. I'm still suffering today," the woman said.

The women's fears of Finelli's violence were echoed in his psychiatric assessments.

He's considered a high risk to re-offend, lacks remorse and has rejected sexual offender treatment in prison.

Finelli scored 29 out of 40 on the psychopathy test, just below the 30 threshold for being declared a psychopath.

But he has "a large number of psychopathic traits," a psychiatric report stated.

He had an 80% chance of re-offending sexually or violently within 10 years, court heard.

SAM.PAZZANO@SUNMEDIA.CA