Paul Curry was sentenced on Monday to 21 months in jail for possession of child pornography.
He was arrested at his Fergus home on Jan. 25 following a two-month OPP investigation and charged with accessing child pornography, making child pornography available and two counts of possession of child pornography.
Curry pleaded guilty on Sept. 29 to one count of possession of child pornography,
He received credit for the 266 days he has already served at Maplehurst Correctional Complex (at a rate of 1.5 days per day of pre-trial incarceration), leaving 240 days on his sentence.
Curry’s lawyer, David Quayat of Edward H. Royale and Associates, was expected to bring forward constitutional challenges under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms at the Oct. 17 court date.
Following a brief adjournment Quayat and the crown prosecutors made a joint submission recommending a 21-month sentence.
There were over 5,700 accessible child pornography images and close to 800 inaccessible images found at Curry’s home, said assistant crown attorney Robert Butler.
“The vast majority were modelling type of child pornography as opposed to sexual acts,” he said.
Butler filed a sample booklet of the images as an exhibit and highlighted Curry’s criminal record, which includes a conviction in 2005 of sexual interference (touching a person under the age of 16 for a sexual purpose) involving a family member.
“It is regrettable that his interest in these types of actions persist,” said Butler.
Quayat acknowledged all the facts of the case, but said while Curry’s child pornography collection is large “on a spectrum of the nature of the pornography, this is not what I would call the more extreme end.”
Curry, 71, is a retired high school physics teacher.
“In terms of his professional life, there was no blemish on his record,” said Quayat, adding Curry was also a volunteer in the community and has helped other inmates at Maplehurst.
Quayat argued that during incarceration, Curry and other inmates were subject to 66 days of lockdown, denied the ability to go outside, access to showers, phone, television and the library.
Quayat said according to documents provided at the hearing, many of the lockdowns were a result of staffing issues at the facility.
“This joint submission recognizes and builds into the sentence an acknowledgement that what Mr. Curry has endured at Maplehurst is not acceptable,” said Quayat.
Justice Elliot Allan accepted the joint submission, taking into account Curry’s prior conviction and the “extraordinarily harsh conditions that he was in at Maplehurst.”
He added Curry “knows better than I, the horror … that he has brought on his family.”
Curry was sentenced to 21 months minus time served and three years of probation after release.
He was also banned for life from parks, swimming areas and other public places where people under 16 are present. Curry will also be a registered sex offender.
