The man who admitted to police that he took photos of his ex-wife’s daughters while they were sleeping showed no emotion as his former spouse testified
The trial for the 37-year-old man, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban protecting the identities of the victims, continued Friday in Penticton Provincial Court. The accused is facing charges of possessing, making, distributing and accessing child pornography as well as one count of voyeurism. The accused’s ex-spouse said the man was emotionless when she confronted him after finding emails with photos of her nine and four-year-old daughters on their shared computer in November 2012.
“He was just plain, straight-faced and he didn’t know what to say,” the ex-wife of the accused testified. “I wanted a reason as to why and he basically told me he didn’t know.”
The accused admitted to police in a recorded interview at the Penticton RCMP detachment in 2012 that he took around 200 photos of the young girls. That evidence was admitted Friday despite the accused’s defence counsel, James Pennington, arguing that the interviewing officer did not inform the man of his right to silence.
Judge Meg Shaw found there was “no legal obligation” for Cst. Ryan Harris to advise the accused that he had the right to silence as he was not under arrest, nor was the officer intending to arrest the man. She also found that Harris informed the accused of his right to counsel and his right to leave the interview at any time.
Pennington said this was a “deliberate tactic” used by the RCMP to solidify their case.
The ex-wife of the accused also found links to what expert witness Cst. Paul Wrigglesworth referred to as “child modelling websites” in the accused’s email. The children on the website were clothed, however some were wearing swimsuits or costumes like maid outfits.
The two got in an altercation after the accused’s ex-wife confronted him upon discovery of the photos in 2012. He was reported to police and RCMP seized the computer and the accused’s phone on Nov. 29, 2012.
The ex-wife of the accused was emotional while viewing the photos and confirming it was her daughters that were in them. The two didn’t speak for nearly a year after the incident and would initially pass messages along through mutual friends.
“During that time when we weren’t really talking he would still continue sending what he could for money to help,” the ex-wife said.
The two began communicating more throughout 2014 and 2015.
“We tried to move forward and just went from there,” she said. “I did ask him (why he took the photos). He was angry and he knew that I had looked into my (ex-boyfriend’s) emails because I told him that when we first started going out.”
She asked him again why he took the photos when they began communicating again.
“He just said he was angry at the time, that it had nothing to do with the children, it was to get a reaction out of me,” she said getting emotional during her testimony. “It did, and he didn’t think it was going to go like this.”
The accused told police in the 2012 interview that he didn’t “get off” on the photos and was only trying to get the attention of his ex-wife. The trial will continue at an undetermined date as it heads back to the Judicial Case Manager’s office to schedule further dates.