CHILD PORN HEARING
Chicoine ‘just as culpable’
Warning: disturbing content
The Saskatoon man who paid and directed impoverished women in Romania and the Philippines to live-stream the sexual abuse of their children is just as culpable as the abusers, a Crown prosecutor argued.
“Without the accused, the abuse would not have been perpetrated,” prosecutor Lana Morelli said during the sentencing hearing of Philip Michael Chicoine, which resumed on Thursday in Saskatoon provincial court.
Morelli said the fact that the women were already selling online child sex abuse shows doesn’t matter — the only relevant factor is that Chicoine participated.
The 27-year-old pleaded guilty to 40 charges including possessing, distributing and making child porn and arranging to commit sexual offences against children between 2011 and 2017.
The Crown argued for a 17-year sentence, which would be the longest child porn-related sentence in Saskatchewan history. Morelli said Chicoine was a party to a “breach of trust” when he paid vulnerable mothers to abuse their kids for his own sexual gratification.
Court heard there were between 19 and 22 child victims. Most were between four and 12 years old; some were as young as 10 months. Chicoine instructed women to perform sex acts on children and then created videos and pictures that he shared with others. He spent $23,000 for the live-stream sex abuse.
Morelli listed aggravating factors such as the nature of Chicoine’s child porn collection — which included “hurt core” material depicting the torture and sexual abuse of babies — the large amount of material, the duration of offending and his attempts at hands-on offending.
There is a difference between hands-on offending and the type of offending Chicoine was involved with, defence lawyer Val Harvey said in arguing for a seven-year sentence. She said her client’s desire to get help and willingness to plead guilty should be considered mitigating factors.
Chicoine likely lands somewhere on the Asperger’s spectrum and has been ostracized and bullied starting in high school and continuing into the work world, Harvey said, adding her client’s first sexual encounter was with a sex worker a year and a half ago.
“He’s been alone most of his life,” Harvey said.
However, court heard Chicoine has very supportive family members who cannot understand how their loved one “went down this road.” Chicoine’s parents were in court for both days of his sentencing hearing.
Harvey said her client can’t articulate the reasons for his behaviour but recognizes the harm he caused the victims. She said he cried when she read him one of the victim impact statements.
When asked if he had anything to say to the court, Chicoine looked down and shook his head.
Although his pre-sentence report indicates he wanted to stop victimizing children but didn’t know how, Morelli noted he was still trying to meet up with kids in Saskatoon the day before he was arrested in March.
A sentencing decision is expected on Sept. 21.
Without the accused, the abuse would not have been perpetrated.