Disgraced former Catholic Bishop will be sentenced in January
Posted Dec 20, 2011 11:52:52 AM.
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Warning: this article contains some graphic content.
OTTAWA – The sentencing hearing is over for Raymond Lahey following two days of debate over the seriousness of the crime and the laws that are in place.
The disgraced Catholic Bishop, pleaded guilty to possession of and importing child porn in May. He surrendered himself into custody and has been serving jail time since.
The Crown made its arguments Tuesday following the defence submission and expert witness on Monday.
Both sides argued Lahey’s sentence should reflect the seriousness of the crime but they are both presenting different opinions on that.
Defence lawyer Michael Edelson argued Monday that since Lahey has never physically abused a child his crime only relates to looking at images of children being abused. Using expert testimony to back that claim Edelson said Lahey posed no further threat and should only serve the minimum sentence.
On Tuesday, Crown attorney David Elhadad argued that collecting and viewing child porn not only provides a market for abusers to distribute child pornography but also serves as a repetition of the abuse each time someone shares or views a photograph or image of the child being sexually abused or assaulted. Elhadad is arguing this makes Lahey’s offence very serious and he said the 18-22 month sentence would reflect the immorality of the act as well as the gravity of the offence.
In court Tuesday morning Elhadad asked the detective on the case to show the defence and the judge several images of the nearly 300 Lahey is reportedly aware of possessing. Elhadad pointed out several images following three themes he described as worthy of mention. There were several images depicting church-related iconography such as a child being abused while wearing a set of rosaries and a crucifix as well as images of men wearing monk’s robes while restraining a teenaged boy. Other images showed bondage and elements of torture. There were also several images showing specifically boys of Asian and Filipino descent.
The Crown has placed an emphasis on the effect of child pornography on the victim, citing a victim impact statement from an earlier case where the child said, “the absolute worst thing about everything that happened to me was that Matthew put pictures of me on the Internet and traded them like baseball cards.” Elhadad read further that the child wanted every person who had seen an image of her online to be punished.
Two letters put forward by the Crown were dismissed because the judge determined this wasn’t the format to submit them.
The Crown’s submissions will continue Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday the defence argued for a shorter sentence, the one year minimum along with a 2:1 credit for the time served since May. Edelson, the defence lawyer, argued that Lahey is himself a victim because of the level of attention, from the public and the media, this case has seen.
“In light of the destruction to this man’s reputation, he wears the scarlet letter,” said Edelson. “C.P. are the scarlet letters he’s going to wear.”
The judge announced Tuesday he would present his judgment when court meets again Jan. 4, 2012.
