The child pornography trial of a former Chilliwack church pastor likely now faces months of delays as defence seeks more disclosure of computer logs.
John (Johannes) Vermeer is charged with downloading child pornography on to computers at Main Street Church on two separate occasions.
The highly technical trial began on July 23 with two days of testimony from Taylor Maguire, a manager at Empyrion Technologies, the IT firm used by the church that became alerted to the illegal pictures and videos by an anti-virus company.
• READ MORE: Chilliwack pastor’s child porn trial delves into computer technicalities
But while the trial was scheduled to run for eight days, at least, July 23-26, continuing July 29-31 and Aug. 1.
But after Maguire testified, followed by Main Street Church pastor Shawn Vandop, it became clear that more computer logs needed to be disclosed to Vermeer by Crown.
An external hard drive that had been connected to Vermeer’s main computer remains missing, according to testimony heard in court.
Judge Andrea Ormiston held a conference call with Crown Teresa Mitchell-Banks and defence counsel Michael Klein on July 31 in Chilliwack provincial court to determine the next steps.
Mitchell-Banks told the court that the material requested by Klein will not be available to disclose until Sept. 20.
“I think we will be looking at months down the road, in any event,” Judge Ormiston told the two lawyers, pointing to the fact because of the adjournment after July 24, the rest of the hearing dates were lost. With court time at a premium, the trial scheduler now needs to find a further six days for the remainder of the trial, followed by two further days for final arguments from both sides.
Given the scarcity of court time in Chilliwack, the trial may now be pushed closer to the end of 2019.
Vermeer is charged with one count each of possession of child pornography and accessing child pornography from May 1, 2010. He also faces the same charges with an offence date of March 17, 2015.
• READ MORE: One-day delay for trial of Chilliwack pastor facing child porn charges
• READ MORE: Chilliwack pastor facing child pornography charges
@PeeJayAitch
paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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