This case centers around sexual abuse by a mother against her four-year-old daughter. At the time of the allegations, the accused was a young mother of two girls and pregnant with her third child, living with her partner who worked long hours to support his family. The accused began chatting online with K.B. and sending him images and videos of her performing sexual acts on children, the family dog, and other images of child pornography, including multiple videos involving her four-year old daughter which led him to file a report with the Saskatoon Police. K.B. provided evidence which resulted in a search of the accused’s home and electronic devices, and leading to the charges. The accused was also chatting online with other men, who also provided evidence to support the charges after being contacted by police. The accused’s partner was completely unaware of her activities.
The accused was charged with sexual assault, sexual touching contrary to s 151, distributing and making child pornography, commit bestiality contrary to s 160(1) of the Criminal Code. After conviction at trial, the accused also entered guilty pleas on two charges under s 145(5) for breaching her release order. These breaches involved using a portable wireless communication device and for being in contact with a person under the age of 16 years.failure to comply with release order contrary to s 145(5) of the Code.
Mitigating factors that were taken into consideration include the accused’s own history of being a victim of sexual abuse as well as having no prior criminal record. The accused is of Metis heritage but was raised by her non-Indigenous mother, stepfather, and grandparents. There is nothing to suggest she was the target of racism or that she was exposed to violence or substance abuse within the home, reconnecting with her father when she was 13 years old. She also has a history of early sexual behaviour that in her view resulted from her sexual abuse: By the time she connected with her father, she was already putting herself on pornographic websites. At the age of 13, she had sexual involvement with a 19-year-old as well as with two friends from school that included videotaping their sexual activity and putting it online. Some of this sexual activity included a dog. (paras. 60-61)
Aggravating factors outweighed mitigating factors due to the nature of the offences and that the victim was assaulted by her own mother and in her own home. Also, the accused had not taken full responsibility of her actions but admitted needing help for her behaviour. The offence of bestiality was committed as a standalone offence with little or no connection to the other offences, one that the accused engaged in this independent of her sexual offences and it will stand alone as a consecutive period of incarceration (para. 79).
The accused was found guilty of all charges and issued an aggregate 8 years 11 months prison sentence with 189 days credit. Ten months of that sentence was for the bestiality charge, but no prohibition order under s 160(4)(a) was sought.
https://canlii.ca/t/k4vvg