The sentencing hearing for John Francis Dionne has been postponed until Friday. The high-profile hearing which was scheduled for this morning was delayed as the judge had to attend to a family emergency.

Dionne, 44, will be sentenced for his role in abducting a 10-year-old girl last year at Calgary’s Deerfoot Mall. The girl, who cannot be identified, was released minutes later at an Airdrie fast-food restaurant parking lot.

Just minutes prior to her release, an RCMP officer had pulled over Dionne’s speeding vehicle but had not deemed the child sitting in the front seat as suspicious.

Dionne was arrested the next day, at his Linden, Alta. home, about 75 kilometres northeast of Calgary. He pled guilty last April to abducting the child.

In May, lawyers for the case agreed Dionne, who is HIV positive and has a history of violence, should serve a fixed sentence and declared him a dangerous offender.

Crown prosecutors are seeking a jail sentence upwards of 11 years while the defense team is requesting a seven-year term.