Pedophile could soon be freed
Ten more months. That may be all the time that admitted pedophile and notorious sex tourist Christopher Neil spends in jail.
It doesn’t seem like much considering what he’s done.
The 41-year-old former teacher from Maple Ridge first came to global attention as “Swirl Face” in 2007 when a worldwide warrant for his arrest was issued by Interpol because of the 315 images found on the Internet of him abusing prepubescent boys.
Neil, who fled his teaching job in South Korea the day his swirled image was released, was arrested in Thailand a week later. There, he was charged with sexual offences involving two Thai boys aged nine and 13.
Neil pleaded guilty and because of a pardon, served only 3½ years of his sentence before being deported to Canada in 2012. He was later charged with 10 counts, including two for abusing Cambodian boys and others related to possessing and accessing child pornography in Canada in 2007 and again after 2012.
He pleaded guilty to five charges in December and the others were dropped.
One reason Neil may be out as early as February 2017 is that he’s spent two years and 24 days in jail awaiting trial here. For that, he gets double-time credit.
So even if Justice John Harvey agrees with Crown prosecutor Brendan McCabe’s submission Thursday that Neil ought to be sentenced to five years, it works out to 10 more months.
But if spending a total of less than three years in jail seems like a very short time for a guy who is pretty much the poster boy for sex tourism and online child pornography, a five-year sentence is the most that McCabe can ask for given the law and its precedents.
McCabe’s clearly not happy about that and is pushing for extreme parole restrictions that include Neil never be allowed access to the Internet and never allowed to leave Canada.
The psychologist who prepared Neil’s sentencing report diagnosed him as a pedophile with a high risk of possessing child pornography in the future and a low to moderate risk of reoffending with children. But that risk rises to high, the report said, if Neil travels to countries such as Thailand and Cambodia, where accessing children in the sex trade is much easier.
Neil did take treatment while he was in jail and, apparently, passed with flying colours. But, out on bail after the treatment, Neil reoffended by once again accessing child pornography on the Internet.
Worse, police found evidence — including texts and emails — that Neil was teaching two other sex offenders how to access the dark reaches of the Internet where the most egregious child pornography is stashed.
In one text, Neil bragged: “The Swirl liveth still.” In others, he explained encryption as well as other ways to mask one’s Internet identity.
Throughout his day in court, Neil sat impassively in an oversized pinstriped suit with an open-necked white shirt. Balding with his fringe of hair cut short, he mostly stared down at the floor regardless of who was speaking or what was being said.
He barely even glanced at Brian McConaghy, a forensic scientist and the founder of a Cambodian non-profit organization, who testified about one of the two victims.
Even 13 years after his encounters with Neil, McConaghy described John Doe 2 as “profoundly disturbed” and even possibly suicidal. He has never admitted the abuse to his family and is fearful of anyone knowing what happened to him. He told McConaghy he was paid $5 for servicing Neil and being photographed.
McConaghy described post-genocide Cambodia as a place of extreme poverty where children are especially vulnerable because their parents are traumatized, social services non-existent and institutions corrupt.
It was McConaghy and staff from his non-profit organization, Ratanak International, who located John Doe 2 and facilitated the videotaped interview that he conducted with RCMP in Phnom Penh.
That evidence introduced at the preliminary hearing last fall is likely what convinced Neil to plead guilty in December.
It is possible that the judge could sentence Neil to more time than the prosecutor is asking for. But it’s also possible that it could be much less, which is what Neil’s lawyer will be pushing for Friday when he gets a chance to make submissions.
He will be calling for evidence from a psychologist who is likely to challenge Neil’s diagnosis as well as predictions for what his future holds.