Child-porn sentence riles officer

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Cop rips ruling
Child-porn sentence riles officer
By TRACY MCLAUGHLIN, SPECIAL TO THE TORONTO SUN
Fri, September 19, 2003

A member of the OPP Child Pornography unit is outraged the Ontario Court of Appeal shot down a Crown's attempt to appeal a house arrest given to a Newmarket man convicted of possession and distribution of "vile and disgusting" child pornography.

CROWN IN TEARS

The porn was so repulsive it caused the Crown to weep and the sentencing judge to go home and take a shower after viewing it.

Randy Weber, 43, was convicted last February of possession and distribution of images of little children being bound, gagged, and forced to have sex with men.

He was given a conditional sentence of 14 months -- otherwise known as house arrest.

Among the images viewed in court by Justice Roy Bogusky, one revealed a four-year-old child weeping and struggling, with hands bound and her neck leashed with a dog collar, while an adult male sexually assaulted her. Another image revealed an eight-year-old girl, tied, gagged, blindfolded and hung upside down. A video clip with sound revealed a toddler who could be heard weeping and yelling "stop, stop, stop" while a man assaulted him.

Court heard Weber unknowingly sent undercover police in Ohio some of the photos in an Internet chat room where Weber sometimes masqueraded as a 13-year-old.

JUDGE FAILED

Crown attorney Michael Demczur and Gillian Roberts tried, but failed, to get a jail sentence, arguing "the trial judge fundamentally failed to grasp the vile nature of the offences ... and failed to give adequate consideration to the sentencing principles of general deterrence and denunciation" to the general public. The judgment, delivered by appeal court judge Kathryn Feldman, noted the defence expert witness testified Weber is not a pedophile and the Crown did not produce evidence contrary to that evidence. She also noted Weber has suffered, is out of work, and is now estranged from his family and suicidal. But OPP Det.-Sgt. Frank Goldschmidt says a house arrest is nothing more than a "slap on the wrist" and he believes the case should be taken to the Supreme Court of Canada.

"Conditional sentences are nothing but a joke," he said. "You can sit around your house and watch TV, you can go out and if you get caught, all you have to do is tell the officer you're job hunting."

The maximum sentence for possession of child porn is five years in prison; distribution can earn 10 years in prison.

www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News/2003/09/19/196571.html

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