Sentencing decision following guilty pleas to numerous internet-based sexual offences against eight child victims, together with possessing and accessing child pornography.
The court held that denunciation, deterrence, proportionality, and the totality principle required a significant penitentiary sentence, emphasizing the degrading, coercive, and dehumanizing nature of the offending and the profound psychological harm to the children.
The court accepted forensic psychiatric evidence that the offender likely suffered from paraphilic disorder or disorders and presented above-average, but not high, risk of sexual recidivism, while finding his insight and rehabilitation prospects uncertain.
A fit global sentence was fixed at 12 years, reduced by Summers credit for pre-sentence custody to 9 years 7 months and 20 days, with harsh remand conditions considered as mitigation under the Duncan framework.
