Sex-assault, child-porn suspect denies knowledge of hundreds of cellphone pics

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This article was published 10/12/2019 (2102 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Confronted in court with evidence of more than 500 child-pornography images found on three cellphones linked to him, a Winnipeg man accused of sexually abusing his former girlfriend’s young daughter continued Tuesday to deny any knowledge of the pictures.

“I’m going to suggest there is no way you could miss having 500 images on your phones,” Crown attorney Sheila Doe said. “With that kind of volume, you knew there was child pornography on your phones.”

“No,” the man said. “Had I known, I would have gotten rid of the phones.”

The 31-year-old accused — who is not being named to protect the identity of the now-eight-year-old victim — is on trial charged with sexual assault, sexual interference, production of child pornography and distribution of child pornography.

His co-accused, the girl’s 25-year-old mother, has already pleaded guilty to four sexual-assault- and child-pornography-related charges. She is awaiting sentencing.

Police arrested the pair in October 2016, after the female accused’s brother reported finding child pornography on an electronic device she had accessed.

The couple had separated at the time, and the woman was living with her brother.

A subsequent police investigation uncovered 300 pictures on the man’s cellphones of the couple allegedly abusing the girl, Facebook and text chats discussing the sexual abuse of children and evidence the man had shared abuse images via a peer-to-peer social media app.

The man has denied the sex-abuse and child-pornography allegations, alleging his co-accused had access to his electronic devices and knew his passwords.

Court heard the female accused set up a new Facebook account for the man to communicate with her under a different name following their arrest.

Under cross-examination Tuesday, the man acknowledged the existence of the account but claimed he was not the person communicating with the co-accused during an online discussion about hiding evidence.

The man admitted communicating with the co-accused via Facebook Messenger on another date following their release on bail, but denied using the same cellphone during the same time period to conduct internet searches for incest and bestiality.

“I agree it happened on the (phone) on that date,” he said.

“That was not me.”

The man provided no explanation how someone else could have used the phone.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca