Prosecutor seeks two years in prison for man convicted on porn charges

Defence lawyer launching constitutional challenge to mandatory minimum terms

The Crown wants a Langford man who had a collection child pornography and abusive spanking videos to spend two years in a federal penitentiary.

Andre Harold Mollon was convicted in December of distributing child pornography and possessing child pornography between December 2012 and July 2016.

At Mollon’s sentencing hearing in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday, prosecutor Grahame Merke asked Justice David Crossin to impose a two-year prison sentence followed by three years of probation.

Defence lawyer Don McKay is launching a constitutional challenge to the mandatory minimum six-month jail sentence for possession of child pornography and the mandatory minimum one-year jail sentence for distribution of child pornography.

If successful, McKay will ask for a conditional sentence order to allow Mollon to serve his sentence in the community.

The defence arguments on the charter will be heard on June 7 and 8.

In June 2016, West Shore RCMP received information from the B.C. Child Exploitation Unit about an image showing suspected child pornography.

On July 5, the RCMP obtained a warrant to search electronic devices in Mollon’s home. He was arrested and released on conditions the next day.

The search of the electronic devices turned up 1,812 images classified as child pornography and 121 videos, Merke said. The defence agreed that 60 videos met the legal definition of child pornography. The majority of the videos challenged by the defence showed children being spanked.

“It was very difficult to view those in court,” Merke said. “The children are screaming, crying, clearly being tormented by physical abuse. Whether the videos actually meet the definition of child pornography is irrelevant. They still depict abuse and exploitation of children. They are terrible, terrible videos.”

Merke said there are no mitigating factors in the case. Mollon has not shown any evidence of insight or remorse. He has not taken responsibility for his actions and there is no evidence of any mental-health challenges that would reduce his culpability, Merke said.

The aggravating factors include Mollon’s sustained interest in the illicit material, Merke said.

“It’s been on his computer for some time,” he said.

“It’s not a small collection. He was clearly accessing a lot of child pornography.”

Merke also noted that Mollon shared images with others. He stored the files online and could access them from any computer in the world, Merke said.

He said Mollon has been verbally abusive with his bail supervisor. “He’s defiant. He’s unco-operative and not a good candidate for community supervision.”

If he receives a prison sentence, Mollon will have access to significant, intensive programming, Merke said.

The court ordered a presentence report on Mollon’s background to assist at sentencing, but he refused to attend, Merke said.

Mollon did participate somewhat in a forensic assessment by a psychologist. The doctor noted that Mollon has been diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy and has a speech impediment. He is worried about having a deviant fetish about spanking and an addiction to pornography.

He has been assessed as a low risk to reoffend, but the doctor is not confident in that assessment because Mollon was not forthcoming.

“How much of a risk to the public does Mr. Mollon pose?” Merke asked. “The answer is uncertain given his attitude. How interested is he in treatment? We don’t know. We haven’t got a presentence report.”