Three years for a child porn collector

A man who had accumulated 272,000 images of child pornography was sentenced to three years in prison, despite his “exceptional” awareness that made him realize he was “disgusting”.

“Rehabilitation is not the factor that should predominate in matters of sexual crimes against a minor,” Judge Guylaine Rivest recently recalled when sentencing Jean-Claude Lalande at the Montreal courthouse.

Lalande, 66, was not at risk of reoffending after being arrested in 2019 with his impressive collection of child pornography accumulated with sharing software.

It was because he believed that by viewing child pornography, he was not hurting anyone. Especially since the children in the photos “tend to smile” and that he “just looks”, he said to justify the downloading of 272,003 photos and 2,166 videos featuring minors from 5 to 16 years old.

An “asshole”

Pinned down by the police and faced with overwhelming evidence, the sixty-year-old soon pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, but also to having made this illicit material accessible. And at the same time, he started therapies that made him realize the harm he was causing to children.

“He describes himself as ‘disgusting’, ‘odious’ and ‘asshole’ when thinking about the behaviors he has adopted,” said the judge. He will never be the coward he once was again, he says. »

It is that during his therapies, he was confronted with the written testimonies of young girls sexually exploited, as well as the traumatisms which they underwent. Not only have these children suffered horrors, but they continue to suffer, since the images are on the internet because people like Lalande are looking for this type of material.

“By using sharing software, it prolongs their suffering by making these images accessible to other users,” recalled the judge.

Increased penalties

The judge also recalled that for two years, sexual crimes against children were punished more severely than before. Because if, in 2011, the sentences for the possession and distribution of child pornography varied from six months to two years, this range was exceeded.

“Sentences must thus fully reflect the ever-growing social disapproval of this type of despicable crime,” recalled the magistrate.

Once released, his three years in prison served, Lalande will have to refrain from being in many places where he could meet children, and this for 10 years. He was also on the sex offender registry, until his death.