WINNIPEG - The "ruin and humiliation" former cop Richard Dow has suffered from extensive media coverage of his sexual assault cases should allow him to serve a sentence where he won't see the inside of a real jail cell, his lawyer says.

Dow, 58, faced sentencing Friday after previously pleading guilty to 11 sex-assault charges and a charge of simple assault in connection to his dealings with girls and women who modelled for his now-defunct talent agency, RiCoCo International between 2001 and 2005.

An independent prosecutor hired by Manitoba Justice to handle Dow's case is pushing for Dow to spend five years in prison. Martin Minuk charged Dow would at times leverage his position as a police officer to gain the trust of his victims and their relatives.

"The photographs themselves are demonstrative of a trust relationship, an authority relationship ... he violated that trust," Minuk told Justice Chris Martin, who reserved his decision on Dow's fate until Sept. 13.

Most of the assaults involved Dow's unwanted touching of the breasts of victims as he purported to fix their clothing during photo shoots.

Dow's lawyer seeks a conditional sentence of two years less a day plus probation, allowing him to skirt jail. Crystal Antila said the "almost wholly negative" media attention Dow's case has received in the six years has been an effective deterrent to Dow and those in the general public who might consider similar conduct, Antila said.

"The media attention has not waned," she said.

A psychologist states Dow is a low risk to reoffend. Antila said he's suffered great financial and other stress due to the prosecution.

Dow tearfully apologized.

"Unfortunately, I know that mere words cannot fix the situation," he said. "I can only assure the court this will never happen again and I know I've done wrong."

Impact statements from four women were filed with the court, but only short excerpts were read into the public record by Minuk. One described developing a panic disorder and a total loss of trust in older men, while another described being left feeling "embarrassed and ashamed."

"He took my dream away," wrote one woman.