B.C. man sentenced to 13 months for 'horrific' collection of child pornography
A Vancouver Island man has been sentenced to 13 months in jail after he was caught with what a B.C. court judge described as a "horrific" and "sadistic" collection of child pornography.
The images and videos numbered in the hundreds of thousands, spread across six electronic devices.
The 66-year-old man, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, came to the attention of authorities in 2021 after technology giant Microsoft alerted the U.S. National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children that a Microsoft user had uploaded an image that appeared to be child pornography.
In October of that year, police searched the man's home and recovered a trove of "graphic, explicit and disturbing depictions of sexual abuse and sexual assault" involving children as young as five years old, wrote Judge Barbara Flewelling in her sentencing decision.
The perpetrator, a retired father of two with no significant criminal history, "initially believed that watching child pornography was a victimless crime and that it was not real, 'like fiction,'" Flewelling wrote.
"He told his wife that saving all the child pornography was a game and that he initially viewed child pornography by accident. He told his wife he knew it was wrong."
A psychological assessment determined the man is of low to moderate risk to reoffend if he remains engaged in a sex offender treatment program that he enrolled in last June.
"He has developed some insight into the harm that child pornography perpetuates against children," the judge wrote. "He has remorse which he expressed to his wife and to this court at the conclusion of the sentence hearing."
However, the judge cited as aggravating factors the size and of the man's collection and the severity of the images it contained, some of which she described as "sadistic."
"These are horrific videos and images," the judge wrote.
"The makers and distributors of child pornography are in business because they have customers like [him]," she continued.
"The internet has provided an easy way to publish these horrific videos and images and spread them across the globe. It is difficult to investigate, track and find the vast network of those who produce, publish and consume these depictions of the worst sort of child abuse."
The judge sentenced the man to two years of probation following his release from Ford Mountain Correctional Centre in Chilliwack, B.C.
Conditions of his release include that he report in person to his probation officer in Campbell River and have no contact or communication with anyone under 16 years old.
He must also remain on the sex offender registry for 20 years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three dead after vehicle plunged down a 100-foot embankment in Shediac, N.B.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
Appeal denied for Edmonton soldier accused of trying to kill her 3 children
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.