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Not That Mark J Hiemstra

If you were searching for the Mark Hiemstra that was accused of charged and convicted of sexual abuse, that is not me. I have never lived in Kitchener, Ontario and have never been affiliated with any of the religious organizations of which that man was a part, nor will I ever be.

If you searched for Mark Hiemstra and came across an article that lead you to believe that I might be that person, please, rest assured that, while we share a name, we are not the same person and we have absolutely nothing in common.

Comments (10)

  1. Katerina

    Do you know what he was sentenced to? I can not find it on the internet anywhere but as someone whose child played at his house, I’d love to know.

    Reply
  2. markjohnhiemstra

    I don’t know exactly what the charges were, but he received only 23 months in jail as a sentence, which could be reduced significantly once in the system. Hopefully he will serve the whole term. Unfortunately, what will most likely happen is he will be welcomed back into a religious community with open arms where he will have the opportunity to do it again. Statistics dictate that he will, in fact, do it again.

    It is obviously something that many people are interested in as I get approximately 25 to 50 hits a day with people searching for “mark hiemstra kitchener” “mark hiemstra sentence” etcetera.

    All that we can hope is that he is let into general population and that he is forced to endure that which he has put these children through, but to a much more severe degree.

    I hope very much that your child was not affected, Katerina.

    Reply
    • Katerina

      My daughter is fine, thank you. 23 months is not long at all…so short for such an awful thing.

      Reply
  3. survivor

    I had worked with him. The owner from his church I believe had hired him told no one then had underage kids in the office. When I found out about Mark the boss said leave him alone and that he was making sure no one kids would be effected. He was left with another bosses son who said he never knew about this convicted child rapist. As for me a fell apart as I was abused by my stepfather. My boss said live with it and so what he didn’t do anything to you. I told him to remember when your grandson is born everyone gets excited about new babies but well you can fill that part in yourself. Yes I quit and can’t believe how a man would have a rapist near his family and friends. Evil knocked on the door and my x boss brought him in. I thought a real man would protect not pretend.

    Reply
  5. X

    I was realized in that church while Mark was the children’s minister. I am female and he never made any attempts at me I attended his summer camps as a child and really disliked him. He was sarcastic and disengaged I felt. It still haunts me that this happened to my peers as a child and how much the church has covered it up. He was married to the pastors daughter. And a few years after the news broke out I remember returning to the church and seeing she was pregnant with their second child. To this day I believe they are still married and I just can’t wrap my head around it. They have two sons together and how could this mother ever trust her sons with him?

    The traumatic news that a pastor was a homosexual pedophile was enough to turn me away from my religious beliefs for about 10 years. The whole thing made me angry as a teen (which was when the news came out) up until I started my own family. The injustice still overwhelms me. I am a reborn Christian today, and I believe in the covenant of marriage, however I believe God permits us to divorce people in the case of them committing such heinous hateful and destructive things towards children. I just wish I knew why this woman has chosen to allow this man to continue to be near her children. Heartbreaking. Praying for these kids and her.

    Reply