The Ottawa Courthouse on Elgin St. (Ottawa Sun file photo)

OTTAWA — There really was a monster in her closet.

That was one of the places a man hid a video camera to capture his 14-year-old stepdaughter naked and in her most private moments.

The Crown is seeking five years behind bars after the 56-year-old man, who can't be named to protect the girl's identity, pleaded guilty to voyeurism and making child pornography — three dozen videos, each one of them the "ultimate breach of trust."

"He decided to transform his stepdaughter, for whom he was the only father she had ever known, into an object of his sexual gratification," prosecutor John Ramsay said, arguing the "sinister" crime "turned an innocent teenage girl into a victim of child pornography."

Defence lawyer Joshua Clarke asked for a sentence near the one-year minimum, arguing that his client confessed to police and pleaded guilty, albeit on the eve of trial.