Crown says defence in child-porn case fiction
Jurors should dismiss Troy Millington’s claim he amassed thousands of images of child pornography for scientific research, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Crown lawyer Aurelie Beland said jurors should find Millington concocted his claim simply because he got caught by police.
“It is whimsical, it is fanciful, it is unbelievable,” Beland said of Millington’s claim he was doing research in a bid to create a computer program that could rid the world of such material.
Beland noted Millington never told anyone of his project until he took the witness stand on Tuesday and testified he amassed his large collection over a decade for research purposes.
“There are many flaws in respect to Mr. Millington’s defence,” Beland told the six-woman, six-man Court of Queen’s Bench jury.
She noted Millington never told authorities he was trying to figure out a way of eliminating child pornography from the internet when he was arrested two years ago, after sharing such material with an officer posing as another collector.
‘WIFE HAD NO IDEA’
“His own wife had no idea,” Beland said. “He even kept this part of his life from his own wife for over a decade.”
But Millington told jurors that despite the horrific nature of the material he downloaded, he was willing to do so for the good of society. He said he believed with his computer background, he would have been able to figure out a way of blocking child pornography content on the entire internet.
Millington apologized to those who think his methods were improper, saying the anger he’s faced “is visceral and real.”
“I think this is more important,” he said, of trying to rid the world of such material.
“I think getting rid of child pornography using this method that I’m talking about is more important than whether I’m popular, or not.”
Justice Kim Nixon will give jurors final instructions on the law on Thursday.