It is day three of testimony for a Kanata father- a suspended RCMP counter-terrorism officer - on the stand explaining why he tied up and beat his 11-year old son in the family's basement.

"I was the victim, he was the aggressor" the man said that is how he viewed his son in the days leading up to his arrest in February 2013.

The 44-year old father, who we can't identify, went so far as to say his son was "possessed by the devil", that the boy reminded him of the lead character Regan, in the 1973 horror movie "The Exorcist".  The man even asked a Priest to perform an exorcism, a religious or spiritual practice to evict demons.

When a religious ritual wasn’t enough, the man took matters into his own hands, admitting on the stand to torturous abuse.  Crown Attorney Michael Boyce asked, “You burned your son’s penis with a barbecue lighter?”  The Father replied, “I don’t remember what I burned, I believe it was around the penis because I wasn’t looking.”

Boyce asked again, “You didn’t randomly choose to burn him on the penis?”

“I don’t know why I chose to do that, other than I was feeling anguish. I wasn’t sleeping,” the father said.

Boyce though says the father, knew exactly why he did what he did, that he was in full control.  “Just like making him write out lines for not doing homework, taking cold showers for inappropriate touching, it was the same as burning his genitals for impure thoughts.”

During cross examination, the man recalled several suicide attempts over the years he had with pills and heavy drinking. Some of it he says he doesn't remember "I had memory blanks".

He says the torture of his son started a month before his arrest, a time he says when he cared for no one but himself.   He viewed everyone, especially his son, as a threat. His wife, who is also on trial, was different, "my wife was not a threat, she is the love of my life, the best thing that ever happened to me. She gave me patience. She gave me love.  Still that wasn't enough at the end to stop me."

The man claims a psychiatrist diagnosed him with PTSD in jail after his arrest, a condition he now uses as his defense for his abusive actions, citing his own traumatic childhood of being sexually assaulted and living through war in Lebanon.  The man claims he had never heard the term PTSD before in his life.  The Crown disputes that claim, saying a doctor suggested his son suffered from PTSD in 2010, and that the father not only read those reports but sent them CHEO and the boy’s teachers.

The day’s testimony ended abruptly when the father claimed he was too exhausted and couldn’t focus anymore to answer more questions.  The judge agreed to adjourn early for the day.  The father will be back on the stand Thursday.