A St. Catharines mother says she wants changes to the laws that protect the privacy of sex offenders, after her eight-year-old daughter was abused by a man living in their apartment building.

"They do everything in their power to protect this man, not innocent victims," said the woman, who didn't know her neighbour had a record, outside a St. Catharines courtroom Thursday.

"When are they going to say we have to protect innocent children?"

Norman Warner, 53, was sentenced to 18 months in jail in addition to 139 days of time served Thursday after being convicted on a charge of sexual interference.

He'll also be placed on probation for three years.

"Very sorry for everything," he said in the prisoner's box before sentencing Thursday.

The court heard the eight-year-old girl lived in the same high-rise building as Warner and came to his apartment to see his two young sons.

Warner sent the girl to the boys' bedroom, where he blindfolded her and performed a sexual act.

The girl went home, brushed her teeth and complained she had a bad taste in her mouth.

"I read the victim impact statement and I am left chilled again by what I read," said Judge David Harris.

He told Warner the girl went to his apartment because she thought it was a place she could go to play with other children and thought it was safe.

Harris said when he looked at the facts of the case, he had difficulty imposing a sentence so short and would have had no difficulty sending Warner to the penitentiary for a long time.

Harris said the one mitigating factor was that Warner entered a guilty plea, making it unnecessary for the girl to be re-victimized in a trial.

The Crown asked for 24 months less pre-sentence custody.

Assistant Crown attorney Holly Nickel said afterwards the victim's knowledge of what happened was limited because of the blindfold.

"Protecting the innocence of the victim was paramount to the Crown," she said about the plea agreement.

The girl's mother said outside court she was glad her daughter didn't have to testify, because she doesn't have a full understanding of what happened to her and she wants to keep it that way.

In a victim's impact statement, she said her daughter suffers continuous nightmares and has trust issues now, particularly with male family members. Her daughter doesn't want to cuddle like she used to and her school grades have dropped.

The mother said she herself has feelings of guilt that maybe she didn't protect her daughter. She said she has lost sleep and has lost all faith in the system protecting children.

Warner had been on the sex offender registry, but it had expired when he was arrested for this offence.

He had prior convictions from 1993 for sexual touching and two counts of sexual assault, and 2001 for sexual assault. The incidents were similar allegations with victims between the ages of six and 12.

After court, the mother said she has contacted politicians' offices to advocate for change to the sex offender registry, allowing people to know where those who are registered live.

"My daughter is safe. She's fine. She has a lot of love and support," she said. "But it's to help other families who aren't as strong."