B.C. men in their 80s face prison after courts cite gravity of child-sex crimes
One man sentenced for sexually interfering with male students while he was their Grade 6 teacher while the other was found with thousands of images and videos depicting 'violent sexual abuse of prepubescent girls, some of them infants'
Warning: This story contains disturbing details
A pair of B.C. men in their 80s found guilty of sexual crimes involving children were sentenced to prison time recently — one a former elementary school teacher who assaulted multiple male students more than 40 years ago, the other a man caught with more than 60,000 images and videos of child pornography.
Last week, a provincial court judge in Vancouver handed down an eight-year federal sentence to 85-year-old Brian Melicke Moore for sexually interfering with 12 boys between 1976 and 1982, despite defence counsel making a plea for their client, “an old and frail man”, to receive a conditional sentence allowing him to serve his time under house arrest at a long-term care facility.
Meanwhile, in October, a Supreme Court judge in Victoria meted out a custodial sentence of two years less a day to William Lee Tate, 82, whom police found in possession of 60,491 unique images and 2,272 unique videos depicting the “violent sexual abuse of prepubescent girls, some of them infants.”
‘Insistence on nudity’
According to a decision published on Nov. 12, Moore was a popular Grade 6 teacher at an unnamed North Vancouver school in the 1970s, and often invited male students on activities outside of school, such as swimming and water and snow skiing.
“He even let the young boys steer his unique sports car in the SFU (Simon Fraser University) parking lot after swimming,” judge Robert Hamilton wrote.
“These were fun activities and the students enjoyed participating in these activities and the special attention from Mr. Moore.”
Some boys, with the blessing of their parents, even spent weekends away with Moore, where they learned of “his insistence on nudity,” requiring them to change in front of him and sleep naked.
“Invariably, Mr. Moore was also naked in the bed with the child he chose to sleep next,” the judge explained.
While in bed with the boys, he would touch their genitalia and force them to touch his.
Moore retired from teaching in 1982 after three of the victims came forward and he was confronted about the allegations. Police became involved in 1988, but it was decided at the time there wasn’t enough evidence for the Crown to move forward with charges.
Two more victims came forward 34 years later in June 2022, prompting police to launch an investigation that ultimately led to charges of indecent assault against the former students and one charge of touching for a sexual purpose involving the eight-year-old son of close friends, a boy who regarded Moore as a grandfather figure.
Following a 31-day trial that concluded in April, Moore was convicted on eight charges of sexual interference against eight victims and touching.
In determining a fit sentence for his crimes, in addition to mitigating and aggravating factors, Hamilton also had to consider Moore’s deteriorating health and his “rapidly increasing need for assistance in meeting his activities of daily living and his ongoing medical needs.”
A medical assessment supplied as evidence shows he has heart disease, late-stage kidney failure, along with a host of other conditions, and has had cancer three times (bladder, nasal and lymphoma).
Given all that, his lawyers argued that his “exceptional” circumstances warranted a conditional sentence followed by three years of probation.
Hamilton, however, said such a sentence “would fall woefully short of meeting the fundamental purposes and principles of sentencing an offender who repeatedly took advantage of his position as the teacher of his victims or the friend of the family of his last victim.”
Saying he was confident Moore’s medical needs could be met while incarcerated, the judge sided with the Crown, which had asked for 16 years reduced by half when factoring in Moore’s health.
Because he selected and “groomed” his victims, Hamilton said Moore’s blameworthiness was “extremely high” and his sentence had to reflect a strong “denunciation” of the crimes.
“Other like-minded adults who sexually offend against a child must know that they will receive a significant jail sentence if they are caught,” he write.
“The point here is that knowing of the serious consequence they face if they commit that offence will deter that person from committing the crime.”
The decision also noted that Moore is facing three civil lawsuits stemming from his offences — one from the victims, a complainant not involved in his case and the North Vancouver School District.
‘Human nature at its cruellest and most malevolent’
The investigation into Tate began in October 2019 when the U.S.-based Child Protection Service alerted Victoria police that an IP address linked to him was sharing a “large volume of child sexual abuse material” through a peer-to-peer network.
“That IP address was in the top 10 uploaders and sharers of child pornography in the Greater Victoria area,” Justice Gareth Morley wrote in his Oct. 24 sentencing decision.
When police searched his home in February 2022, they uncovered the images and the videos — which had a total run time of 5,742 hours and 54 minutes — on electronic storage devices.
“The images and videos show human nature at its cruellest and most malevolent directed against the most vulnerable,” the judge noted.
“In the inadequate language we must use in the sentencing of child pornography offences, this collection is at the high end of the spectrum both in quantity and in terms of the extreme violence and immorality of what is depicted.
Tate, who admitted to possessing the content, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography and one count of transmitting child pornography earlier this year in court.
His lawyer was seeking a conditional sentence to be served under house arrest in the community, whereas the Crown asked the judge to apply a custodial sentence.
Morley, said that while Tate’s age and guilty plea are mitigating factors, the size and nature of his collection are “overwhelming aggravating factors.”
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