Restitution to child-porn victim a first in Manitoba

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This article was published 11/01/2018 (3063 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the first time in Manitoba, a man who watched child-pornography videos online has been ordered to compensate the victim — a move some say could spark change in how judges deal with future cases.

In what could become a precedent-setting decision, provincial court Judge Robert Heinrichs ordered Steve Suomu to pay $5,000 to a U.S. woman who was videotaped being raped by her father more than a decade ago, when she was a young girl.

The videos of “Vicky” circulated widely online, and specific victim-compensation laws in the United States have allowed the woman to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution from American offenders who downloaded them.

Thursday marked the first time a Manitoba judge has made a restitution order in a child-porn case under Canada’s Criminal Code, and it’s one of only a handful of similar orders in the country.

But the judge’s order doesn’t necessarily mean the victim will be paid.

Carol Hepburn, a Seattle-based lawyer, said courts in Ontario have previously made restitution orders adding up to almost $20,000 for child-pornography victims she represents, including Vicky. Court heard more than 460 restitution orders have been granted in Vicky’s case alone, the majority of them in the U.S., where enforcement of the court’s order is built into the law.

Not so in Canada. In Manitoba, if restitution is not paid, the victim must launch a separate civil-law process under the Court of Queen’s Bench to try to get the money.

In this case, it would be a cross-border process and likely more expensive than the restitution order, Hepburn said.

“I’ve not seen a penny from any Canadian orders that I’ve gotten,” she said, adding the Manitoba court’s ruling is still meaningful.

“It’s a tremendous emotional affirmation, because a person of great authority has recognized that there’s harm and that this person downloading and viewing these images — and sometimes passing them on — is (causing) constant harm. For so long, this was viewed as a victimless crime, and we’re in an evolutionary process here.”

Monique St. Germain, a lawyer with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, agreed with the symbolic power of Heinrichs’ decision, describing it as “a good precedent.”

“I think this will help start a different conversation when it comes to how we’re supporting victims of child pornography going forward. I think it’s also important to recognize the symbolic value of this, sort of a recognition that the people who possess and trade are the people who are responsible for the ongoing damage to victims,” said St. Germain, who was present in court to hear the decision Friday.

Suomu, a 50-year-old former elementary school teacher, is serving two years less a day in jail for possession of child pornography, after police searched his St. Boniface home in 2016 and seized dozens of images from his computer and electronic devices.

Among those images were videos of a little girl known as Vicky (not her real name). In a 2011 video recording of her victim-impact statement, which was provided to the provincial court through the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Vicky said knowing the video is still being shared and viewed makes her feel like she’s being raped all over again.

After a trial and sentencing that included watching video of the abuse she suffered, Heinrichs agreed Suomu should pay a financial penalty for downloading the images.

“I am satisfied that Vicky has suffered bodily and psychological harm as a result of being a victim of child pornography. The harm in the past and in the present as a result of the ongoing sharing of her images and videos on the World Wide Web has cost her financially in a significant way,” he said as he imposed the restitution order Thursday.

Suomu was sentenced in November 2017, but the judge took more time to decide whether he would order restitution — Crown prosecutor Sheila Doe sought $10,000 for Vicky. The judge said he consulted Vicky’s medical records and expert opinions provided to him by the Crown that estimated Vicky’s ongoing health expenses and psychological treatment could cost millions — although not all of it was linked to her past abuse.

Suomo’s defence lawyer, Dan Manning, said if courts intend to order restitution for victims depicted in child pornography, new legislation should be developed.

The Criminal Code definition of restitution typically applies to a quantifiable amount of money — in cases involving fraud, repayment for a homeowner’s property damages or lost wages for someone who was unable to work after suffering an assault, he said. In this case, the judge’s order for $5,000 to be paid “seems arbitrary.”

“The problem with the Vicky case is that there are so many layers of damages here, from different people,” including her initial abuser and those who circulated the video, Manning said. He suggested defence lawyers could start calling experts to court to testify about the dollar value that should be attached to someone’s child abuse if courts make restitution orders common for child-porn victims.

“I’m not saying she hasn’t suffered… But in Canada, the Criminal Code is not a good fit for restitution for victims of child pornography.”

katie.may@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @thatkatiemay