CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A Souris man who was caught with more than 500 videos depicting child pornography on his computer was sentenced Friday to one year in jail.
Jacob John Becker, 72, appeared before Justice Nancy Key in P.E.I. Supreme Court in Charlottetown for sentencing after previously pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.
Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Crown attorney Nathan Beck told the court that on Nov. 26, 2018, an officer with the RCMP internet child exploitation unit started an investigation into child pornography access and distribution through peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.
Through the investigation, the officer determined someone at Becker’s address had accessed numerous suspected child pornography files through a peer to peer network.
The court heard that after the police got a search warrant they went to Becker’s apartment where he admitted to having child pornography on his computer.
Becker later told the police he had been using eMule peer-to-peer network software to download child pornography for about a year.
He also told police he didn’t distribute or share the pornography and had it stored on his computer in a file called “sail".
Beck said the police seized several items from Becker’s apartment where he lived alone since moving in about a year earlier.
In total, the police found six images of child pornography and 551 videos.
The court heard that the child pornography ranged from the victims posing to full penetrative sexual activity between adults and children.
Those victims' ages ranged from preteens to early teens.
“This is a crime of enormous gravity."
-Nathan Beck
Beck said possessing child pornography might not harm a child directly, but it fuels the market for that type of material which does lead to direct harm to children.
Beck said sentences in child pornography cases reflect the seriousness of the offence.
“This is a crime of enormous gravity,” he said.
Becker, who walked in and out of the courtroom with the help of a cane, sat at the defence table throughout the proceedings during which the court heard he was dealing with several health conditions, including pancreatic cancer, diabetes and a recent heart attack.
In sentencing Becker, Key accepted a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence on the mandatory minimum of a one-year in jail.
As she gave her decision, Key said that nowhere in a pre-sentence report prepared for the case did Becker give any recognition that the girls in the images were victims.
She also said every time an image of child pornography is viewed the children involved are made victims again.
Along with the jail time, Becker will be on probation for three years, which includes a condition he not own or possess any devices that can access the internet.
Becker must provide a DNA sample for the national databank, and his name will be on the national sex offender registry for life.
He will also be subject to other conditions that prohibit access to children younger than 16 in certain public places and through a job or volunteer work.
