Sentencing decision following guilty pleas to child luring and possession of child pornography arising from an undercover internet sting and a large child pornography collection.
The accused advanced a s. 12 Charter challenge to the one-year mandatory minimums and sought a conditional sentence, relying in part on expert psychiatric evidence that pedophilia and Autism Spectrum Disorder significantly reduced his moral responsibility and made incarceration detrimental to rehabilitation.
Applying the Nur framework, the court first determined the fit sentence without regard to the mandatory minimum and held that denunciation and deterrence remained paramount for sexual offences against children, notwithstanding the accused's youth, guilty plea, lack of record, treatment efforts, and diminished responsibility.
The court fixed a fit sentence at 18 months' imprisonment on each count, concurrent, followed by three years' probation, rendering the constitutional challenge moot.
