WARNING: Some people may find some of the contents of this story disturbing.
The child pornography in a Saskatoon man’s possession was “by far the most depraved collection” that an RCMP officer had ever seen and caused him nightmares, according to testimony in provincial court on Monday.
Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit investigator Cpl. Jared Clarke took the stand during Philip Michael Chicoine’s sentencing hearing. The 27-year-old was arrested in March and pleaded guilty to 40 child porn-related charges in April.
Clarke testified that Chicoine had 4,714 unique child porn images in his collection and the majority of the victims were females under the age of 12. Some of the material is classified as “hurtcore,” which Clarke said is extremely graphic, as it depicts child torture and bondage.
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Clark admitted that he sought professional help to deal with the after effects of viewing the content. He took a few moments to compose himself Monday during his testimony after he described how the material impacted him.
The Crown is seeking a 17-year prison sentence for Chicoine’s offences, which prosecutor Lana Morelli said occurred from 2011 to 2017. She detailed how Chicoine paid thousands of dollars to women in Romania and the Philippines to put on live streaming child sex shows, which he would sometimes direct.
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The children being abused in the shows were often from around local neighbourhoods and sometimes were the women’s own children, according to Morelli.
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Chicoine also made direct contact with minors online. From 2015 to 2016 he regularly communicated with a 14-year-old girl from the Philippines who provided Chicoine child pornography in exchange for money.
At one point the girl indicated she was considering suicide and Chicoine told her to record the act if she went through with it, so he could view it.
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Chicoine also communicated with a girl who said she was 13-years-old and living in Saskatoon. The two discussed meeting up to have sex, but the encounter never materialized.
The Crown also detailed conversations Chicoine had with other “like-minded” individuals. In one online exchange, he explains that he is about to become an uncle and hopes the child is a girl.
Chicoine spent approximately $23,000 on accessing child porn according to police, with the bulk of the money going to the Philippines.
Chicoine’s sentencing hearing will continue later this month.
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