Man gets two years for using granddaughter for child porn
By Peggy Revell on March 14, 2018.
prevell@medicinehatnews.com @MHNprevell A 55-year-old Medicine Hat man who molested his granddaughter and using her to make child pornography was sentenced Tuesday to two years federal jail, and three years probation. The man, whose name is not being published to protect the identity of the victim, will be registered as a lifetime sex offender. According to the agreed statement of facts, police were contacted in late 2016 by the seven-year-old victim’s family after her father became suspicious of the accused. Investigating further, he recovered multiple photos that had been deleted from the memory card of the accused’s camera. The photos of the victim were taken while she was both asleep and awake, in sexual poses, and included ones of her genitals. Prior to the accused’s arrest, he was confronted by his family and became suicidal. When police went to arrest him, he was found unresponsive in the living room of the house, and he had to be hospitalized. When electronic equipment was seized by police, no other child pornography was uncovered — a mitigating factor, said the Crown. A victim impact statement was submitted to the court from the victim’s mother, which stated she could never forgive the man — and that she wants him to get counselling. “I feel terrible about this. If I could change things, I would have. I feel I’ve ruined my family and I feel overwhelming guilt because of it,” the man said at his sentencing. He pled guilty early on, but delays came due to the assessments he was undergoing prior to sentencing. This assessment categorized the accused at a low to moderate risk, defence counsel noted during sentencing. As part of his federal sentence, the judge directed the accused to undertake counselling. This requirement of counselling carried over into the probation order. The sentence was a joint submission between Crown and defence counsel. 12
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