Man sentenced to 24 years in prison for sex crimes

A man who sexually abused three young girls and made child sexual abuse material of them was sentenced to 24 years in custody in Swan River provincial court on Tuesday.

The offender, 44, previously pleaded guilty to three counts each of sexual interference and making child sexual abuse material (CSAM), along with single counts each of possessing CSAM and accessing CSAM.

The court ordered a publication ban on any information that could identify the victims, including the offender’s name or any information that could identify him.

Crown attorney Sam Levkov and defence lawyer Jesse Blackman jointly recommended a sentence of 24 years.

Judge Christina Cheater imposed the lawyers’ joint recommendation on Tuesday and said she would provide written reasons for her decision at a later date.

According to an agreed statement of facts, which Levkov read during the hearing, two of the victims were between the ages of three and four years old, and one was between five and six years old at the time of the offences.

The offender was 41 years old when the incidents began.

The crimes took place in a First Nation community north of Brandon.

Between July 15, 2023 and March 20, 2024, the offender repeatedly sexually interfered with the victims both while they were awake and asleep and created CSAM of them.

Videos showed the children posed with their genitals exposed and various forms of penetration, according to the agreed statement of facts.

Levkov said the man also showed “CSAM to the children on his tablet, dressing the children in fishnet stockings and placing makeup on their faces prior to committing some of these sexual interferences.”

Members of the Manitoba RCMP Internet Child Exploitation unit went to the offender’s residence to execute a search warrant for possessing CSAM.

“Knocks to the door went unanswered, so the door had to be breached,” the Crown said. “The offender was present in the home along with his wife.”

They arrested the offender and seized eight electronic devices, which the man refused to provide passwords for.

After speaking with a lawyer, the man provided a statement to police, during which he “characterized his conduct as ‘taboo.’”

“He acknowledged that he was attracted to children,” Levkov said. “He acknowledged that the children he was sexually abusing in the CSAM … were ‘family.’”

He told police he “loved those girls,” court heard.

The offender told police that the children’s mother would routinely drop them off at his home so she could use methamphetamine and morphine, the agreed statement of facts said.

The man said the offending happened in his home, but that he only sexually touched them two times and did it because he was intoxicated and depressed, Levkov said.

Police were only able to access two cellphones, one of which didn’t contain any CSAM.

An image analysis summary completed on the other phone indicated that there were 1,255 CSAM images and 169 CSAM videos downloaded from the internet, along with 2,684 CSAM images and 15 videos of CSAM of the victims created by the offender.

An analysis of his search history on Chrome and Safari showed searches including, “I love CP images” and “I love CP.”

Blackman shared some of the offender’s personal circumstances, including that he was subjected to “significant” sexual abuse from family members at a young age.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com