Prince denies ever seeing illicit material
Testifying in his own defence on Wednesday, a man on trial in Penticton for accessing and distributing child pornography flatly denied ever seeing such illicit material.
“Never viewed it. Never heard it. Never saw it,” Jesse Aaron Prince told the judge presiding over the case in B.C. Supreme Court.
Prince, 34, is charged with six offences: four counts of importing or distributing child pornography and single counts of possessing and accessing child pornography.
The trial, which began Monday, heard he was arrested in September 2010 after Mounties executed a search warrant at his Penticton home following an undercover investigation.
Officers allegedly infiltrated a peer-to-peer file sharing network used to trade child pornography and traced one of the users to the computer found in Prince’s bedroom.
A forensic examination later turned up 333 images and two videos of child pornography on the computer and an external hard drive attached to it.
It’s taken seven years to get the case to trial, because Prince absconded after initially being released on bail, which was revoked upon his recapture.
Prince testified he moved into the home where he was arrested in June 2010, and shared it with his father and nephew.
The computer on which the child pornography was found, Prince continued, had been set up in the living room before he moved in and until “four days exactly before all this happened.”
It was moved into his bedroom, Prince explained, at the request of his father because the video games he played on it were too noisy.
Prince said the computer didn’t require a password unless it was powered off, and was used freely by his family and visitors to surf the web and download movies and music.
“Do you know what child pornography is?” defence counsel James Pennington asked him. “Yes,” Prince replied. “Have you seen it before?” the lawyer asked. “No,” he answered. “Have you ever engaged in an online chat with anybody about sharing pictures of kids involved in sexual acts?” Pennington asked his client later. “No,” said Prince. Earlier in the day, RCMP Sgt. Lorena Rostie, a digital forensics expert, was unable to state categorically that it was indeed Prince who had downloaded the illicit material — although she concluded it was likely him because there was little evidence of anyone else using the computer.
“Theoretically, it would be possible for Mr. Prince to get on his Facebook account, finish what he’s doing, walk away, and then for somebody else to climb into his chair and take over?” asked Pennington.
“That would be possible, yes, provided the computer didn’t lock,” replied Rostie.
In her opening statement on Monday, Crown counsel Nashina Devji indicated the case hinges on proving Prince was in possession of the child pornography.
The trial continues today.