Sex offender opens toy museum

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/12/2017 (3051 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — A registered sex offender was set to open a toy car museum and art gallery in his Brandon area garage Friday.

David Boyce was sentenced to 18 months in jail on Aug. 8, 2014, for sex-related offences, with credit for time served.

His offences included the possession of child pornography and “sexual interference” related to a months-long sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student in Thompson while he was a teacher 40 years her senior.

Boyce reached out to the Brandon Sun earlier this month, to promote an art gallery and toy car museum in his garage that he planned on opening up to the public, seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

At the site, located just outside of the city, Boyce had approximately 2,500 toy cars he’d been collecting since childhood put on display.

All of the toy cars were labelled and put in order according to their vehicle type and year.

These were accompanied by a small collection of paintings that were on display in an adjoining art gallery.

At no point did Boyce disclose his sexual offences, instead shrugging off a negative experience in Thompson as something that he didn’t need to talk about, but which resulted in his relocation to the Brandon area a few years ago.

A subsequent background search revealed news articles from the Thompson Citizen about Boyce’s criminal history.

A deeper dig into Boyce’s past uncovered court documents, which outlined his conviction and the conditions of release.

Confronted with this information, Boyce defended his past actions, explaining that he’d been “in love” with one of his students, and that he’d known her for years prior to engaging in a sexual relationship.

If not for his being in a position of trust and authority as a teacher, he reasoned, what occurred would not have been illegal.

“Yes, I’m a registered sex offender, but it’s not like I go preying after children,” he said, adding that the toy museum and art gallery was situated a few kilometres outside of the city so that children couldn’t make it out there without parental supervision.

“In fact, I recommend that nobody under the age of 16 come here without supervision,” he said.

It was a point that he neglected to make prior to being confronted with his criminal record.

A promotional pamphlet he had printed off also failed to cite any age restrictions.

In addition to having Boyce register as a sex offender during his 2014 sentencing, Judge M. McDonald also invoked a portion of Section 161 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits Boyce from:

● Attending a public park or swimming area where persons under the age of 16 years are present or can reasonably be expected to be present, or a daycare centre, school ground, playground or community centre.

● Seeking, obtaining or continuing any employment, whether or not the employment is remunerated, or becoming or being a volunteer in a capacity, that involves being in a position of trust or authority towards persons under the age of 16 years.

● Using a computer system within the meaning of Section 342.1 (2) for the purpose of communicating with a person under the age of 16 years.

Winnipeg-based Canadian Centre for Child Protection general counsel Monique St. Germain said that these provisions “don’t appear to extend to stopping (Boyce) from doing what he’s doing,” since they are “strictly interpreted” by courts.

“It may be that, conceptually, you can’t really put your finger on something being totally wrong with it, certainly not illegal with it at this point in time, but that doesn’t mean that the circumstances couldn’t shift to make it a problematic concern,” she said.

St. Germain said that this doesn’t mean that the public shouldn’t be made aware of the situation.

St. Germain added, “If I were the parent, I’d want to know.”

— Brandon Sun