Nine-month sentence:
Brook Street man guilty on child porn charges
Arrested in October 2015 for production of child pornography, and further charged with arms and drugs offenses, Christian Levesque received a nine-month sentence, March 8, 2017.
Gatineau Police had announced his arrest for production of child pornography. The 26-year old Aylmer man was charged under a broad article in the Criminal Code covering creation, distribution and sharing of child pornography, Article 163.1. Levesque was also found guilty of possession of marijuana, plus possession of a prohibited weapon (brass knuckles). The weapons charges for possession of an unlicensed firearm and for unlawful storage of a firearm had been dropped.
The child pornography verdict needs explaining. In Canada, as Levesque’s lawyer, James Harbic, informed the Bulletin, a charge of production of child pornography covers a variety of crimes. In the case of Mr Levesque, the production involved is non-physical. Talking or writing about child pornography is considered “production”, according to the Criminal Code. This explains the nine-month sentence handed down to Levesque, said the lawyer.
Provisions of this sentence include a life-long ban from being alone with anyone under the age of 16.
He is not permitted near any public park, schoolyard or swimming pool used by children. A sample of Levesque’s DNA was taken and is on file with the RCMP’s National Sex Offender Registry. The one-year probation includes therapy for sexual abusers.
Explaining the production charge further, Mr Harbic noted, “The production of child abuse content, even conceptual, as with a telephone or written conversation, pollutes our world, even if the intention was very private. That is the thinking behind the Criminal Code.” Harbic added, “We worked hard to have a reduced sentence because the victim is society in general and not a specific person, as with other more abhorrent crimes governed by that article in the Criminal Code. This man is young and now has a drastically changed life as a result of what he’s been through.” (With files from Laurent Robillard-Cardinal)
