Child molester pleads guilty to breaching court orders

A Halifax child molester has admitted violating two types of court orders.

Myles Nelson Payne, 61, pleaded guilty recently in Halifax provincial court to failing to comply with a long-term supervision order by being around a child without being accompanied by a responsible adult who knew his criminal history and had been approved by his parole supervisor.

Payne also pleaded guilty to breaching a prohibition order by attending a public park where children were playing.

The offences were committed between September 2022 and August 2023, when Payne was arrested.

He was charged with 10 counts of violating the long-term supervision order, two counts of breaching the prohibition order, and two counts of criminally harassing a woman by engaging in conduct that caused her to fear for the safety of her child.

Payne, who has not applied for bail, will return to provincial court May 2 for the scheduling of his sentencing hearing.

He will be ordered to undergo a forensic sexual behaviour assessment before his sentencing.

Payne pleaded guilty in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in 2013 to historical charges of sexual interference and sexual assault involving three girls.

The abuse happened between 1983 and 2003 and began when the girls were as young as five. One of the girls was assaulted more than 1,000 times.

Payne, who had previous convictions for abusing other girls, was designated a longterm offender at sentencing in May 2015.

Justice Arthur Leblanc, who called Payne’s pattern of criminal behaviour “shocking and disgusting,” sentenced him to five years in prison, followed by 7.5 years of strict supervision in the community.