MONTREAL - A man who was convicted of abusing four boys, one of whom died shortly after he testified, has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Normand Lapalus' first victims found the courage to come forward in 2006 and the others soon joined in and told police of the abuse they were put through at the hands of of the 62-year-old, 250-pound pedophile.

The sentence was handed down in a Longueuil, Quebec courtroom on Tuesday and Lapalus, disowned by his own children, immediately headed to jail.

The retiree was convicted of having repeatedly sexually abused the four victims.

A fan of pornographic videos and internet sites, Lapalus was arrested in

2006 but it took nearly four years for him to be brought to justice.

One victim was able to testify against his molester, but succumbed to brain cancer before seeing the sentence handed down.

One of Lapalus's victims was even more vulnerable than the others because of a developmental disability.

For 10 years, Lapalus assaulted his victims where he could be assured privacy, such as in his kitchen, garage or in another room built over the garage.

The first victim who came forward in 2006 resulted in a police investigation and Lapalus was arrested in June of the same year.

Lapalus admitted to the mother of two of the victims, and in front of his wife, that he had performed the sexual acts "for fun."

It was the mother of the first two victims who was told about the other two children who were being abused, and she reported the news to investigators.

While the case was before the courts, Lapalus continued, from his home, to make new contacts on the internet using Facebook and chat sites on which he sometimes used his real name and sometimes the pseudonym "Tigroux-Norm".

Lapalus will undergo therapy in prison.

"I have a hard time admitting that my father caused so much pain," said Lapalus' daughter, Isabelle Allard, who can no longer see her father as anything other than a predator.

Allard's voice trembled with emotion when she spoke about the cancer-related death of one of her father's victims.

"We'll never know if there is a link between that cancer and what happened,"

she said. "But the cancer developed during the trial."

Allard, a mother herself of a little girl, said she supports her father's victims unconditionally and said that the victim who died is, in one way, lucky.

"Because the other victims live today with the serious psychological effects that my dad caused," she said.

Allard said she was there to support the victim who couldn't be.

"I'm doing it for him," she said. "He would be happy to know that I did it."

The woman also said that she shudders "when I think that I sometimes left my own daughter in the arms of a pedophile."

Because of the nature of his crimes, Lapalus will be dealt with in a specialized prison setting.

"But he's a major pedophile," said his daughter. "I don't know if his problem will be fixed when he gets out."

Allard's sister, Lyne, said she supported her sister but couldn't find the words to describe what her family has gone through.

"We're all in shock," she said.