Winnipeg man denies producing, distributing child porn

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This article was published 09/12/2019 (2279 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When shown pictures in court prosecutors allege depict a Winnipeg man sexually abusing his former girlfriend’s young daughter, the man had a simple answer for a judge Monday: “That’s not me.”

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 and 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 broken up 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 images of the abuse via a peer-to-peer social media app.

Testifying Monday, the man denied sexually abusing the girl and said he was not responsible for the text chats or distribution of the sex-abuse images. The man alleged his co-accused regularly accessed his cellphones and knew his social media passwords.

Earlier in the trial, the accused’s former roommate identified the man as the same one pictured abusing the young girl. He also testified the man told him the female accused was “holding something over (his) head.”

The man told court Monday his co-accused had him charged with assault, and he was concerned she would go to police and level more serious allegations against him.

“I wasn’t sure what else she could come up with to make things worse,” he testified. “At the time, there was a possibility she could do whatever she wanted.”

Court has heard the girl’s father had sole custody of the girl, but the female accused was allowed one or two nights of visitation a month.

The woman testified she was living with the man in October 2015, when he called from a bar and said he was scared if he came home he would touch the girl. The woman said she assured the accused she would not let that happen, but upon returning home, he sexually touched the girl.

The abuse by both accused escalated, with the male accused storing images of the sex acts on his cellphones, the woman said.

In testimony Monday, the male accused alleged his ex-girlfriend was jealous about his sexual relationships with other women and described her as “clingy.”

He said he told the woman to move out prior to their arrest, but she continued to contact him.

“Wherever I would go, she would find a way to show up,” he said. “She would try to keep tabs on me all the time. I couldn’t really escape.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca