Martensville man gets additional 3.5 years for offences

Dale Edward Blair was on day parole, serving a prison sentence for accessing, possessing and sharing child pornography, when he used the family computer to secretly download 646 “unique” child pornography files in the span of three months.

Between his release from custody on Sept. 24, 2018, and his arrest in Martensville on Jan. 17, 2019, Blair collected 1,476 child porn files and uploaded 12 of them to social networking site Tumblr, according to the facts presented at his sentencing hearing in January.

On Wednesday, Blair, 33, appeared by video from the Saskatchewan Penitentiary, where he is serving the rest of his three-year sentence from 2017.

Judge Marilyn Penner tacked on another three and a half years for the new offences after Blair pleaded guilty to one count each of possessing and sharing child porn.

Penner called the fiveyear sentence sought by the Crown “excessive” because offenders with worse records and larger collections have received shorter terms.

The mandatory minimum sentence for both offences is one year.

Defence lawyer Patrick Mcdougall argued for a sentence of between 18 months and two years, saying his client did not receive sexual offender treatment programming during his first prison sentence.

From the outside, Penner said Blair appears to be a “pretty average guy” — a Superstore manager with two kids and a fiancé. Behind closed doors, he uses child porn to cope with childhood sexual abuse and mental health issues, she said.

Court heard Blair started looking at child porn when he was 13 and joined an online support group when he was 20.

Outlining the mitigating factors, Penner noted Blair’s admitted guilt, remorse and desire for treatment.

Court heard he was denied programming because he was deemed “low risk” by corrections. Penner formally requested that he receive treatment this time around.

Although Blair needs an opportunity for rehabilitation, Penner said she also recognizes the significant amount of child porn he collected in a short time, despite having “very limited computer access” while on parole.

“These are not victimless crimes. Each image is an abused child,” Penner said.

Prosecutor Lana Morelli said Blair found ways to access the internet and hide his tracks while searching for images of young girls, mostly between the ages of seven and 10.

As part of his sentence, Blair cannot contact children or go to playgrounds and pools (unless he’s with someone aware of his charges) or use electronic devices (except for specific work or school related reasons) for 10 years.