Accused pedophile denied bail

MONTREAL, Que. – A 71-year-old Anjou man charged for the second time in weeks on sex charges involving children has been denied bail after initially being released in November on child porn charges.

Gabriel Cantin was first arrested in November after the Montreal police Child Sexual Exploitation Unit searched his home in Anjou and found what one investigator described as “an enormous” amount of child pornography stored on computer hard drives and other storage material.

Cantin, who has a home facing an elementary school and used to volunteer to help kids with their homework, was released after his first arrest after agreeing to pay $2,000 bail and to follow a series of conditions.

He was arrested a second time, in December, after investigators with the squad started sifting through the incredible amount of computer files from his home and found a video that is alleged to show Cantin sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl during the summer of 2010.

Det.-Sgt. Brigitte Guerard, an investigator with the squad, said during the second bail hearing Wednesday morning that while being interrogated after his second arrest, Cantin admitted to sexually assaulting the girl at least three times. A relative of the victim, who was seated in the audience section of the courtroom, stormed out when he heard that Cantin had admitted to abusing the girl.

Guerard also told the hearing Cantin admitted during his questioning that he had been collecting child pornography for about a decade leading up to his arrest. He said he would purchase a computer hard drive, fill it with child porn and then buy another blank one. He said he bought three more hard drives in 2010, with much more storage capacity, so he could transfer files on to them.

In all, police seized 43 hard drives. On two of them, they found files containing 16,000 videos and 20,000 photos.

Other people seated in the courtroom had to leave at various points, apparently because the investigator’s testimony overwhelmed them. Prosecutor Rachelle Pitre asked Judge Denis Lavergne to watch the video that led to Cantin’s being charged the second time, before deciding on bail.

Lavergne hesitated and asked if it was necessary. Pitre said she would leave the decision up to him.

“Then I don’t want to see it,” Lavergne said in a firm tone.

Pitre then asked Guerard to describe for the judge what is seen in the video.

The court has ordered a publication ban on any information that would identify the girl.

Wednesday’s bail hearing involved three new charges filed after Cantin’s second arrest. He is charged with sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual assault.

Defence lawyer Audrey Amzallag told the court the new charges involve offences that occurred before Cantin was released the first time. She argued that Cantin does not pose more of a danger to society then he did when he was granted bail in November.

Pitre countered that the new evidence reveals much more about Cantin. During his first bail hearing, Cantin denied ever sexually assaulting anyone. He said going after a child “was something else,” meaning something he would never do – while amassing a huge collection of child pornography, Pitre noted. She cited that past testimony as evidence Cantin can’t be trusted and shouldn’t be released a second time.