The accused was tried on two counts of transmitting sexually explicit material and one count of child luring arising from lengthy online communications with an undercover police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl.
The court held that the statutory presumptions concerning age belief applied because the interlocutor was repeatedly represented as under 16, and the accused did not take reasonable steps to ascertain age within the meaning of the Criminal Code and the governing Supreme Court of Canada authorities.
Relying on the communications as a whole and the accused's contemporaneous private writings, the court found beyond a reasonable doubt that the purpose of the communications and images was to facilitate sexual interference by grooming and arranging a possible sexual encounter.
Convictions were entered on all three counts.
