Crown seeks longer child porn sentence

Crown prosecutors say a recordsetting 12-year prison sentence for a Saskatoon man behind the creation of live-stream online sexual abuse of children overseas is not long enough.

The Crown is appealing the November 2017 sentence imposed on Phillip Michael Chicoine, 28, saying it is not proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the offender. The notice of appeal states the sentence is “demonstrably unfit.”

Chicoine admitted luring children to make child pornography, making his own child porn and sharing it with others, and arranging to commit sexual offences against a child during a six-year period.

He pleaded guilty to 40 charges, each of which carries a mandatory minimum sentence.

Chicoine paid $23,000 to watch impoverished mothers in Romania and the Philippines abuse children — often their own — between 2011 and 2017, court heard during his sentencing hearing.

He took screen shots of the livestream abuse, creating child porn involving approximately 18 victims, some as young as 10 months old.

In chat conversations with other pedophiles, Chicoine talked about hurting kids during sex acts — which was present in his large collection of “hurt core” porn, depicting the torture of children.

As of November, nine children had been rescued in the Philippines and three Romanian women had already been sentenced in connection with the case.