B.C. woman jailed for child pornography after sharing photos of grandchildren online
Grandma sentenced to 14 months behind bars for
concerning and explicit online chats with stranger
ASHLEY WADHWANI
Surrey Now - Leader
A 48-year-old Prince George woman was sentenced to 14 months behind bars for sharing pictures of her grandchildren online to a stranger, saying she would enjoy “secretly watching” him abuse them.
The woman, known only as “Ms. G” because of a publication ban, was sentenced in a Prince George courtroom in May after pleading guilty to making and accessing child pornography. An updated ruling was recently published online.
In her decision, Justice Cassandra Malfair outlines “vile communication” between the grandmother and the stranger, and her struggle to deal with a lifetime of abuse from both strangers and relatives starting when she was just five years old.
Ms. G, who used to be an elementary school assistant, created an account on the chat website AirG on March 22, 2018, under the user name “trained_dog.” She took part in explicit sexual conversations with a stranger with the username “daddy669” on topics such as child abuse, bestiality and sexual assaults.
The grandma divulged to the stranger that she had three granddaughters ages five, six and seven years old, and sent him photos. He said he would “love to train” the children, and she said she would enjoy “secretly watching” them be abused.
She also shared photo of a child she identified as a “little girl in town.” She would later create an account on a second website at the stranger’s request to access child pornography.
The disturbing conversations went on for a week, then stopped.
But AirG operators had already reported the conversations to police, who worked with the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre. Search warrants were obtained May 2 and 3, and Ms. G was arrested May 4.
More than 70 images of child porn and bestiality were found on her phone.
In her statement to police, Ms. G said she had never thought about touching any of her grandchildren, nor had she touched any of her students.
According to the court documents, she admitted to being “turned on” by the chats, and said she created the account because her partner ignores her. She said she knew it was wrong to talk about sexual acts involving children, but was troubled by her own horrific experience of sexual abuse.
Actions part of a ‘repugnant sexual fantasy,’ judge says
A pre-sentence report found that Ms. G suffers from anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder arising from her childhood trauma and abuse. She had been seeing a counsellor and was prescribed medication to help combat her depressive episodes.
Ms. G had told the judge she was remorseful and asked her to acknowledge her “cries for help” amid poor access to mental health services and delays in getting psychiatric appointments.
“I feel terrible. I really pray that no one was hurt. I only thought of it as a conversation, I didn’t think that kids might be involved,” Ms. G told a psychologist in the pre-sentence report. “He said he got the pictures online. I wasn’t really thinking.”
Malfair acknowledged how the grandmother’s own abuse contributed to her later actions and that she has no criminal record. But she also underlined how the woman thought of herself as a victim instead of an offender whose actions will continue to re-victimize the children involved through the redistribution of the material now online.
“Ms. G. put her own grandchildren at risk by sharing their photographs with daddy669 and encouraging him to sexually abuse them,” Malfair wrote. “While there was some anonymity in their relationship, I find it risky and irresponsible for Ms. G. to bring her granddaughters to the attention of a potentially dangerous sexual predator.
“She undermined the dignity and sexual integrity of her own grandchildren by offering up their images as props in a repugnant sexual fantasy.”
Ms. G also received three years’ probation. There is no sex offender programming for women in B.C., but she must undergo counselling, refrain from using electronic devices and accessing the internet, and have no contact with any child under the age of 14.
Crown seeks 10 years for long-running
Winnipeg foster child sex abuse
By: Dean Pritchard
Winnipeg Free Press
A Winnipeg, Manitoba, man who repeatedly sexually abused three foster children over the course of nearly a decade blamed his actions on child-welfare officials who did not alert him to the girls' prior history of abuse, a judge heard Tuesday.
The 49-year-old accused cannot be named, as it may identify his victims.
According to a pre-sentence report provided to court, the man claimed: "The offences would not have occurred if the victims had not made sexual advances toward him and... if the child-welfare system had exposed their past sexual abuse to his wife and himself."
The Crown is recommending the man be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Provincial court Judge Ray Wyant reserved his decision until July 30.
The accused began abusing two of the girls in 2008, when they were nine and 11 years old, respectively, continuing until they left the home in 2014 — at which point, he began sexually abusing a now-14-year-old victim.
"I am constantly living in fear and feeling unsafe at night-times just knowing he is out there running loose like a wild animal," the teen wrote in a victim-impact statement read in court. "I now question my sexual identity and whether I can be with a man."
The accused showed "limited shame and remorse" for his actions, the pre-sentence report says, and claimed the victims were "sexually suggestive" and "continually tempting him."
The man struck a more contrite tone in a short address to court Tuesday.
"I know the harm I have caused," he said. "No one has more remorse than me, your honour... (The victims) have been victimized by adults all their lives. I should have showed them how men with integrity behave, but I failed."
Could be because you have no integrity!
Defence lawyer Laura Robinson said the man has already suffered some degree of punishment, in the loss of his church community and friends, and assaults against him while in pre-sentence custody.
"Already the process... has had an immense impact on him and allowed him to recognize the harm he has caused to so many," Robinson said.
Nevertheless, he needs to be locked up until those girls are all adults, at the very least.
Ontario police link 3 sexual assaults of children
over 6-year period to same suspect
CBC News
On Wednesday, police released another composite image of a suspect in the cases.
(Waterloo Regional Police Service)
On Wednesday, police released another composite image of a suspect in the cases.
The first sexual assault happened on Oct. 20, 2013 at an apartment building in Waterloo.
In that case, a four-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in an apartment building on Barrie Street in Waterloo. Police said it happened in the afternoon on a Sunday, and the man was a stranger to the child.
The second occurred on Oct. 27, 2017 at an apartment building on Patricia Avenue in Kitchener. A six-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the stairwell of the building.
The third happened on July 6, 2019 on Brybeck Crescent in Kitchener. The victim in that case was a four-year-old girl and she was sexually assaulted in the common area of an apartment building.
DNA in all three cases linked them to the same suspect, police said.
The suspect is described as male, white, about five-foot-ten-inches tall with a medium build.
On Wednesday, officers released yet another image of the person wanted in connection with the case.
A composite image was also released in June 2018. It was created by Parabon Nanolabs in Virginia. The company uses DNA phenotyping to create an image of someone based on their ancestry.
It's the same method that's led to dozens of recent arrests in cold cases in the United States.
The high-profile arrest of the suspected Golden State Killer was made thanks to the technology.
Police believe there are other victims in the Waterloo region area, and police are urging anyone with information to come forward.
Parents and caregivers were also reminded to "be diligent while supervising their children and to immediately call police concerning any suspicious people they see interacting with their children."
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 519-570-9777 extension 8666 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Police have released still images taken from surveillance video cameras of a suspect in the sexual assault of a four-year-old girl on July 6. The sexual assault has now been linked to two other cases dating back to 2013 and 2017. (Waterloo Regional Police Service)
Nova Scotia sexual assault case hinges on if businessman was 'reckless' by not asking age
Blair Rhodes · CBC News
Paul Christopher Coburn said he thought the girl was an adult. He also said he only hired her for a massage.
(Craig Paisley/CBC)
Paul Christopher Coburn, 47, is facing five charges including sexual assault and communicating for the purpose of obtaining sexual services from a child.
Coburn was in Halifax on business on Feb. 21, 2017, when he went on the online classified site Backpages and answered an ad for a massage. Coburn testified in his own defence in the trial. He claimed he was looking for a therapeutic massage for back pain.
In closing arguments Wednesday, the Crown repeated its contention that the wording of the ad Coburn responded to had a sexual connotation. Crown Prosecutor Carla Ball also told Judge Elizabeth Buckle that it was clear from the girl's appearance that she was underage and Coburn failed to take the necessary steps to determine how old she was.
Defence lawyer Joel Pink countered that Coburn only had to take "reasonable" steps to determine the girls age, "not all possible steps."
Coburn had testified he thought the girl in her 20s. Ball said her makeup, clothing and demeanour would have made it clear she was underage and Coburn was "reckless" in not asking the girl how old she was.
Coburn had testified that he was only looking for a massage and he claimed the girl initiated the sexual encounter.
Another man, Leeanthon Oliver, has been convicted of human trafficking in relation to this girl and he is serving an eight-year sentence.
Buckle will give her decision on the charges Coburn faces in October.
P.E.I. man who sexually abused sisters found guilty
of historical abuse
Ryan Ross (ryan.ross@theguardian.pe.ca)
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A P.E.I. man who was accused of sexually abusing his half-sisters when they were children, and threatening them if they told anyone what he did, was found guilty Tuesday of five offences.
The accused was facing 21 charges related to the historical sex offences that came to light when one of the now adult complainants was hospitalized for a medical condition and made statements to staff about what she alleged happened to her as a child.
A publication ban prevents the release of any details that could identify the victims.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, it took P.E.I. Supreme Court Justice James Gormley more than an hour to deliver his decision and find the accused guilty of two counts of indecent assault, one count of sexual assault and two counts of uttering a threat.
During the trial, the court heard testimony from the three sisters who thought the accused was their uncle.
All four later learned the accused, who was older than the complainants and lived with another family member, was their half-brother.
As Gormley reviewed the evidence, he detailed some of the testimony from the complainants who said they were the victims of repeated sexual abuse.
Some of that testimony involved descriptions of similar details, including the accused forcing two of the sisters to perform oral sex on multiple occasions when they were children.
They also recalled similar circumstances of the accused making threats that he would hurt them or family members if they told anyone what he was doing.
One of the complainants said her earliest memory of the accused sexually abusing her was when she was around 10 years old.
She told the court the accused would regularly force her to perform oral sex or have anal sex.
Gormley said the victim testified that until she learned about the other allegations, she thought she had protected her sisters from the accused.
During the trial, the accused didn’t testify, but the Crown played video of a statement he gave to police in which he denied the allegations.
When reviewing the witness testimony, Gormley said he had to consider their credibility, which has to do with their truthfulness, and their reliability, which deals with the accuracy of the evidence.
Gormley said he found all three women to be credible and he repeatedly described them as reluctant witnesses.
If it wasn’t for the one sister’s compromised situation while she was undergoing medical treatment and on medications, the allegations might not have come to light, he said.
Gormley said he found two of the sisters provided reliable evidence, but there were issues of reliability with the third who was “very vague” with some of her testimony.
The accused is scheduled to be back in court Oct. 4 for sentencing.
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