The Alberta Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal for Coaldale man Trevor Pritchard, who was convicted of five charges relating to the sexual assault of two girls.
In January 2019, Pritchard was found guilty of one count of sexual assault, two counts of luring and one count of possession of child pornography, only the latest in a long string of crimes Pritchard committed against adolescent girls.
Pritchard’s appeal stated the trial judge improperly limited the scope of expert testimony relating to electronic evidence.
Pritchard denied allegations that he was the author of Facebook messages luring the young girls.
He had an expert testify that computer systems can be compromised. However, the trial judge was not satisfied that the expert was properly qualified to examine the evidence.
“She noted the expert had never examined Facebook records specifically, he had no specific expertise with respect to forensic examination of devices, no formal training or experience with chip-off technique or data extraction, and he had not examined any of the devices in the case before the Court,” Justice Frans Slatter said in the dismissal that was released Monday.
The decision said the technical evidence was not all that linked Pritchard to the messages.
The messages Pritchard denies writing contained pictures of and details about his life, including his house, his dog and an upcoming move. Pictures and other content were posted on both his personal social media accounts and the ones that he used to lure the young girls.
Pritchard is in a federal prison with no set release date after being deemed a dangerous offender in January 2021.
Crown prosecutor Donna Spaner said then that an indeterminate sentence would be the only sentence that can adequately protect society due to Pritchard’s 15-year-long sexual assault history.
Court heard throughout the hearing Pritchard was a high risk to reoffend.
The indeterminate sentence does not mean life in prison — Pritchard can apply for parole after serving seven years, and then every two years after that.
Comments