‘Beyond reprehensible’: judge sends ex-teacher to prison for child pornography offences

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This article was published 17/09/2024 (379 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former teacher and counsellor who uploaded an image of a child being sexually abused to a public search engine, sparking a Winnipeg police probe that discovered thousands of other disturbing images and videos, will serve two-years-and-nine months behind bars.

Alan Veness was given the penitentiary stint at a provincial court sentencing hearing in July, after earlier pleading guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. The Crown and defence jointly recommended the sentence.

Crown prosecutor Sivananthan Sivarouban, who detailed the case to the court, said Winnipeg Police Service internet child exploitation investigators were alerted after an image of a girl between the ages of six and 10 being sexually abused by a dog was uploaded to Microsoft Bing’s image search.

The company alerted authorities in the U.S., who then notified Canadian authorities in Ottawa. Winnipeg police traced the internet protocol, or IP, address and confirmed it was registered to Veness’s Scotia Street home in December 2022.

In July 2023, police obtained a search warrant for his home and discovered 4,572 unique images and 22 videos on his computer, phone and USB drives of what the Crown described in court as child sexual abuse material.

Veness was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography and accessing child pornography, the latter of which was later stayed.

Sivarouban described the images and videos in graphic terms in court, noting some depicted sadistic sex acts against the children. “Very violent, violent imagery,” he told provincial court Judge Victoria Cornick.

The material depicted children from infants to teens and included girls and boys.

Veness, who was 60 as of the hearing, had worked in Winnipeg and other Manitoba schools for around 15 years as a substitute and on term positions. He also worked as a counsellor at the Manitoba Youth Centre.

Cornick noted although there were no allegations Veness abused children he worked with, she found the situation concerning.

“I don’t think you need to be specially trained in youth counselling or education to appreciate that this is extremely disturbing imagery,” Cornick added, calling his behaviour “beyond reprehensible.”

Sivarouban noted Veness had been given a warning from police in 2009, after abuse images were found in the recycling bin of a computer he had taken in for repair.

Veness told officers he had accidentally downloaded it, then deleted it, when searching online for adult pornography and they let him off with a warning, the prosecutor said.

Veness’s lawyer, Jeffrey Gindin, said his client is an addict and will require counselling and therapy.

Gindin said Veness was assessed as a low risk to reoffend and has been “very committed” to therapy over the last year.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca