Green’s Harbour man facing child luring charges back in court

A 27-year-old Green’s Harbour man who allegedly sent masturbation videos to a child via social media made a short appearance in provincial court in St. John’s Thursday morning.

Crown and defence lawyers indicated they had received more information from police in the case of Jonathan Douglas Murphy, and the defence requested some time to review it. Murphy will be back in court Aug. 6.

Murphy had turned himself in at the request of police on April 3, and is facing six charges, all laid in connection with incidents alleged to have happened on Facebook Feb. 24: two counts of child luring; two counts of sending sexually explicit material to a child; one count of accessing child pornography in connection with a photo and a video; and one count of indecent exposure for allegedly send four videos of himself masturbating to a child.

The child’s parent reportedly contacted police after finding the videos on the child’s phone.

Murphy is not in custody, having been released with strict conditions.

After Murphy had made his first appearance in court, members of the Internet Child Exploitation team of the RNC/ RCMP’S Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit issued a statement to the media, encouraging all parents to vigilantly monitor their children’s online activities.

Cases like this demonstrate the importance of parental supervision, police said, stressing that online predators can access children from anywhere in the world.

Police suggested websites like cybertips.ca, protectkidsonline. ca and deal.org as useful resources for anyone wanting to learn more about internet safety for children.