Iqaluit child porn collector jailed three months

Nathan Evans stands in front of the Iqaluit courthouse building after a court appearance in 2008. The former Iqaluit resident, who worked for Qikiqtaaluk Information Technology Corp., will serve three more months in jail on convictions of possessing child pornography and sexual assault. (FILE PHOTO)

A former Iqaluit resident, Nathan Evans, has been sentenced to three more months of jail time in addition to time already served, for possession of child pornography and a sexual assault conviction.

Police found more than 200 sexually explicit photographs and more than 100 video clips of children from Evans’s computer and external hard drives when they seized them in March 2008.

At the time, Evans worked for Qikiqtaaluk Information Technology Corp., an information technology firm owned by Qikiqtaaluk Corp. that acts as the agent for the Qiniq broadband network in Iqaluit.

Before that, Evans worked for the Comguard internet service provider in Iqaluit.

Police raided Evans’s home in the Browne building after pursuing an investigation into allegations that teenage girls visited his apartment. Evidence from building security staff confirmed police suspicions.

Evans’s collection of child pornography included images of children younger than five years old, up to the age of 16.

The seized data included depictions of children engaged in various sex acts with partners or with sex toys, and depictions of group sex, sadism, bondage and bestiality.

In pronouncing his sentence, Justice Neil Sharkey said possession of child pornography “is not a victimless crime.”

In addition to the children who suffer in its production, the material has a destructive effect on society because it encourages its collectors to think of sex with children as acceptable, Sharkey said.

He said this increases the likelihood that they will commit other sex-related crimes down the road.

Evans’s conviction for sexual assault arose from an incident in which Evans was alleged to have been drinking with some teens in his apartment.

The court heard that Evans took the hand of a 15-year-old girl and put it on his crotch. Both parties were fully clothed.

Sharkey said Evans’s action was around the “low end” of sexual assault.

Despite this, Sharkey said he thought the girl had undergone “significant trauma” as a result of Evans’s crime, saying she appeared confused and ashamed in her video statement to police.

Sharkey noted that Evans had publicly apologized to his victim and to the community, and showed remorse for his actions.

Sharkey said Evans had been engaged in “a circular lifestyle that he did not realize was wrong,” because he thought of teenage girls as adults, when they are not.

Evans’s guilty plea and public apology in court, he said showed that he understood that what he did is unacceptable sexual behavior.

Evans has been in therapy for months in British Columbia, without any court direction to do so.

Evans’s therapist testified during sentencing that he considered Evans at low risk to reoffend.

Evans has also taken courses in business administration and has not broken any of his conditions of release.

During the trial, Evans had been released under strict conditions, including almost no computer use, which is why he is pursuing a new career path.

Evan’s three months of additional jail time will be followed by a three-year probation period with restrictions that are less onerous than those imposed on him while he waited for his charges to be dealt with in court.

While on probation, will be allowed to use computers, including for internet use, but he is not allowed to gain access to any pornography, even legal material.

Evans also must cooperate with surprise police inspections of any computer, PDA or cell phone. He’s also forbidden to possess any software that could be used to encrypt or conceal data.

Evans is also barred from having contact with anyone under the age of 16 in person or electronically, except for his daughter, or contacts related to work.

He’s also barred from taking any job that involves working with children.

He must also have no contact with the victim of his sexual assault, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.

Evans’s name will be listed on Canada’s sex offender registry for 20 years, and he must make sure the registry knows where he lives whenever he moves.

Evans’s jail sentence is three months for the sexual assault and six months for the child porn possession. The sentences are to be served consecutively.

But Sharkey gave Evans double credit for the three months he spent at the Baffin Correctional Centre before he was released with conditions.

His entire time at BCC was spent in solitary confinement for his own protection, so Sharkey decided the hard time was worth a two-for-one credit.

This leaves Evans with only has three monthsof jail time to serve.

At the request of Evans’s lawyer, Sharkey recommended Evans serve his remaining time at a corrections facility in British Colombia, closer to his family and support network, and farther from where his notoriety may be dangerous for him in a prison.

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