Psychologist caught with child porn sentenced to nine months

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2019 (2510 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As a child psychologist, Gary Shady knew full well what a devastating impact child pornography has on its young victims, but sought it out anyway “to satisfy his own sexual appetite,” a judge said Tuesday.

“The fact Mr. Shady was an educated professional and trained in the effects of trauma on children increases his moral culpability substantially,” provincial court Judge Kael McKenzie said before sentencing Shady to nine months in jail.

“Despite being someone who helps children, he knowingly engaged in child abuse,” McKenzie said, describing Shady’s behaviour as “repugnant.”

Shady, 73, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. He was arrested on Oct. 10, 2018 after police executed a search warrant at his Fort Rouge home and found three videos and 116 images of child pornography on his cellphones.

In a police interview, Shady admitted possession of the images and videos, saying he had been sexually attracted to young boys all his life.

Later, however, in a court-ordered pre-sentence report, Shady denied having any sexual interest in children.

At a sentencing hearing last month, defence lawyer Mike Cook argued Shady accessed the illegal images not for sexual gratification, but as a means to recapture his own youth.

Those conflicting and changing positions suggested Shady has no insight into his criminal behaviour, McKenzie said.

“He used the images for sexual gratification, but attributes it to some artistic pursuit in search of his youth,” McKenzie said. “I am certain he has remorse, but I am not certain he has truly admitted why he engaged in sexually deviant behaviour.”

Police began investigating Shady after a tip from a computer-service provider was received by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the U.S. That agency alerted the National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre in Ottawa and Winnipeg police.

Shady specialized in treating children with Tourette’s syndrome and behaviour problems. Court heard there was no indication Shady’s criminal actions crossed over into his professional life.

McKenzie said an appropriate sentence was one year in jail, but reduced it “slightly” in recognition of the punishment Shady has already received in the community, including the loss of his career and public humiliation.

The mandatory minimum sentence for possession of child pornography is six months in jail. Cook had recommended Shady be sentenced to two years probation, arguing the minimum sentence violated his charter rights and amounted to cruel and unusual treatment.

That argument was rendered moot by McKenzie’s decision, who said an appropriate sentence exceeded the mandatory minimum.

McKenzie sentenced Shady to an additional 18 months supervised probation during which time he is to have no access to the internet and must submit himself to regular police searches of his electronic devices.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca