A 30-year-old North Vancouver man who downloaded a massive collection of "abhorrent" child pornography over file-sharing networks should go to jail for 16 to 18 months, a Crown prosecutor told a judge this week. Crown counsel Adrienne Lee asked for the prison term Monday in North Vancouver provincial court during a sentencing hearing for Bradley Nicholas Wray Demarco, who has pleaded guilty to one charge of possession of child pornography.
Demarco's huge collection of child pornography was discovered in January 2014 during an online sting operation conducted by an officer in the RC MP's child exploitation unit. The officer tracked the IP address of a person downloading videos and images of child pornography over a peer file-sharing network to Demarco's home.
When police executed a search warrant at the house on Jan. 23, 2014, they had to knock loudly several times and threaten to break the door down before Demarco opened it, said Lee. She said later examination showed "just prior to the police gaining entrance into the house the accused had tried to delete the folder containing child pornography."
Lee said Demarco wasn't able to do that because the folder was too large.
When police analysts examined a computer hard drive, they found 360 video files and almost 40,000 images that met the definition of child pornography, said Lee, which had been collected over a three-year period.
Lee described the images and videos as "abhorrent, disturbing, repulsive" and "upsetting."
"It is extreme in terms of its graphic nature," she said. "These are real children that are being violated and sexually assaulted."
She added the young age of the children is an aggravating factor in the case, as is the volume of child pornography collected.
A psychological report put Demarco on the "low end" of a moderate risk to re-offend.
Defence lawyer Peter Whyte asked for a shorter jail sentence.
Whyte described Demarco as a man with a "dark secret," who was depressed after being fired from his job when he first came across child pornography by accident.
Whyte said his client still struggles to understand his own actions. He has only been allowed access to his own infant son under supervision, Whyte added. "There are few offences in the criminal code that attract more abhorrence," he said.
Whyte asked the judge for a sentence of three to five months in jail.
Conviction now carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 90 days in jail.
Judge Steven Merrick has reserved his decision until next month.
