It is both tragic and ironic that it took the death of a police officer to save four sisters from abuse suffered at the hands of their brother.

Those are the thoughts of Janet Crockford who, along with three of her sisters, suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their brother, John Harvey Miller, between 1956 and 1974.

"If (the murder) hadn't happened, I don't believe (the abuse) would have stopped, because a predator is a predator," Crockford said.

The abuse only ended after Miller shot and killed 23-year-old Surrey RCMP Const. Roger Pierlot on March 29, 1974.

Miller repeatedly sexually abused his four younger sisters at the family home on the Katzie #2 Reserve in Langley.

The abuse began when the girls were four or five and continued until their mid-teens.

Miller was just 10 years old when he began abusing his sisters.

Crockford is the youngest of the 14 Miller children. She spoke at a press conference at the Langley RCMP detachment on Monday afternoon, accompanied by her sister, Anne McCotter, another of Miller's victims.

Also present was Crockford's daughter, 23-year-old Candace.

The other two victims, Mary and Kathy Miller, were unable to attend.

John Harvey Miller was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday in Kamloops provincial court.

He pleaded guilty to multiple counts of indecent assault.

The sisters said they felt the time was right to speak out.

"We are here today to reclaim our dignity and pride as women," Crockford said. "We were ready to disclose the dark secret that we hid inside ourselves for a long time."

In 1997, John Harvey Miller was granted, with an escort, short day passes with his family.

Two years later, his family, which had visited him in jail, cut off contact with him as he had still not accepted responsibility for his actions.

"Each of us has gone through personal struggles from low self-esteem, alcoholism, the ability to trust and more," Crockford said.

"As children we learned skills in how to survive (but) we didn't have the chance to learn to be happy."

Added altogether, the four sisters have endured a total of 35 years of abuse.

"We needed to start the healing process for ourselves," Crockford said.

The sisters did not talk about the abuse until about 20 years ago, and finally decided to go forward last July.

"It wasn't easy for us to speak openly of the sexual abuse to others, especially to a male officer," Crockford said, referring to Const. Eric Dykeman, who handled the case.

She credited Dykeman with the compassion to listen, giving the sisters his full attention.

Crockford also gave thanks to their friends and family for their love and understanding and support, and to Langley Victim Services for having the skilled and caring people to get them through the process.

"They are there until the end and this is very important to anyone who is going through something personal," she said.

In addition to his five-year sentence, John Harvey Miller's name will permanently be on the sex offender registry and he must submit a DNA sample. Should he be released, there are strict conditions regarding his interaction with any children, which pleases the sisters.

— with files from Natasha Jones