Crown and defence were extremely far apart in sentencing submissions in the case of the Chilliwack church pastor convicted on child pornography charges in provincial court on April 30.
What is almost certain is that John Vermeer will be going to jail after his sentencing decision is rendered on Oct. 13 at 9:30 a.m.
What Judge Andrea Ormiston will have to decide on is whether to send Vermeer to jail for a low of eight months asked for by his lawyer up to a high of two five-year consecutive sentences asked for by Crown. Or somewhere in between those two extremes.
READ MORE: Chilliwack church pastor found guilty of accessing of child pornography
READ MORE: Sentencing begins for Chilliwack church pastor guilty of accessing of child pornography
Vermeer’s lawyer Michael Klein agreed that a conditional sentence order was not available in this case and asked for a sentence in the range of eight to 10 months.
Klein submitted several letters of support for Vermeer. In court during sentencing was his wife, his daughter and two other supporters.
Crown counsel Teresa Mitchell-Banks argued a much more serious sentence was in order, as there is no practical difference between offenders who access and view child pornography and the pedophiles and abusers who create the illegal images and videos.
Vermeer was convicted of two counts of accessing child pornography and two counts of possessing child pornography from 2010 and 2015. At that time, the maximum sentence allowable under the criminal code was five years jail. In late 2015, Parliament raised that to 10 years.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that people who watch online child pornography are online pedophiles,” Crown counsel Mitchell-Banks said in her sentencing submissions. “He is an online predator.”
She relied upon a 2020 Supreme Court of Canada decision that calls for tougher punishment of sexual violence against children.
“[Vermeer’s] collection of child pornography is horrific in its depravity and its violence,” she said. “If sentences are not proportionate to the gravity and the harm done, the criminal justice system could be undermined in the eyes of the community.”
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