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Jail for child porn possession

A 50-year-old Yorkton man will be spending his weekends in jail until a 90-day sentence for child porn possession has been served.
Jail

A 50-year-old Yorkton man will be spending his weekends in jail until a 90-day sentence for child  porn possession has been served.

Karl Vopni withdrew a not guilty plea in Yorkton Provincial Court Tuesday and pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. The date had been set aside for a preliminary hearing pending Queen’s Bench trial, but turned into a sentencing hearing.

In a joint Crown-defence submission, prosecutor Andrew Wyatt told the Court that in September 2015, police received a child pornography complaint from two individuals who were taking care of Vopni’s Yorkton residence while he was in rehab for a cocaine addiction.

While cleaning and looking for drug stashes around the home, Wyatt said, the pair found a package stashed above a ceiling tile. It contained polaroids of a young girl and other materials investigators deemed to be child pornography.

Wyatt did not go into details about the contents of the materials or submit them as exhibits due to the fact the Crown and defence had come to the sentencing agreement, but said there were 970 photographs and 42 videos.

The prosecutor laid out the mandatory minimum sentence of 90 days incarceration to be served intermittently on weekends from 7 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Monday. That will be followed by three years probation. There is also a mandatory DNA order and 10-year registration on the national Sex Offender Registry.

Conditions of Vopni’s probation include living at an approved address;  sex offender assessment and conselling as prescribed by Probation Services; no contact with two named individuals; no contact, in person or by electronic communication, with children under the age of 16; no attendance at places, such as schools and parks, where children are or are likely to be present; and several others.

Defence attorney David Rusnack told the Court Vopni had found the materials among his twin brother’s belongings when the two were moving from the family homestead in Swan River, Manitoba to Yorkton in 2011.

Vopni, in loyalty to his brother, Rusnack said,  brought the items to Yorkton and advised his twin to destroy them.

Rusnack said his client acknowledges that by doing so he had the requisite knowledge and control of the materials to warrant the possession charge under the Criminal Code.

The defence attorney cited the early guilty plea, lack of related criminal record and his client taking responsibility as justification for the minimum sentence.

Earlier in the sentencing hearing, the Crown had agreed to change the date of the possession charge to pre-date changes to mandatory minimum legislation in July 2015 that increased the minimum to six months.

Judge Patrick Reis said in light of the sentencing recommendation having been arrived at by “very experienced counsel” he accepted the joint submission and made all the ancillary orders.