Daniel Cormier, seen at his trial in 2008, has been sentenced to five years in prison. Daniel Cormier, seen at his trial in 2008, has been sentenced to five years in prison. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)A self-declared pastor from Quebec who was convicted of sexual assault after he "married" one of his young disciples has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Daniel Cormier, 57, was sentenced in Montreal on Monday for the assaults, committed during his sham marriage to a 10-year-old girl he took under his wing while he was the head of an evangelical church congregation that ministered to the homeless and addicted.

Cormier maintains he was entitled to have sexual relations with the girl because they were married and she was his wife, an argument the court ultimately rejected when it found him guilty in October 2008.

"I would say that there's no remorse," Crown prosecutor Anne-Andrée Charette said outside the courtroom. "He just tried to find justifications."

The court heard Cormier was lovestruck for the girl, now 19. During his trial, Quebec court Judge Sylvie Durand announced she would not hear testimony supporting his marriage defence.

Crown prosecutors sought a 10-year sentence, the maximum penalty, given Cormier's position of authority as the head of a now defunct congregation in downtown Montreal.

Cormier's lawyer, Christian Gauthier, asked for two and a half to four years, a punishment he said was more in line with Canadian jurisprudence.

The sentence ends more than five years of legal procedures that ensued after Cormier's "marriage" was flagged to authorities. He represented himself during most of his trial but hired a lawyer for sentencing arguments.

Given his time spent in detention, Cormier will serve a maximum of four years and one month behind bars.

Cormier befriended victim's family

Cormier said he "married" the girl in 1999 when she was 10 in a ceremony at the Église du centre-ville (Church of Downtown Montreal), a few years after he took her, her addicted prostitute mother and sister under his wing.

The family's relatives described Cormier as a father figure who often invited the girls to stay with him, or vacation with him.

The girl, who is now 19, testified she never believed they were married but that Cormier sexually assaulted her repeatedly from age 9 to 13.

Cormier was arrested in 2003 after a social worker called police about the girl's situation.

With files from the Canadian Press