Swirly Faced Sex Offender Jailed in Canada

[Kerryd]

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/christopher-paul-neil-convicted-sex-offender-jailed-for-3-months

6 May 2014

"Convicted sex offender Christopher Paul Neil has been sentenced to three months in prison and three years' probation for possessing devices capable of accessing the Internet.

The charges were among 10 recently laid against Neil by authorities in B.C., relating to possessing and accessing child pornography.

Neil, 39, became known as the "Swirl Face" sex abuser for digitally altering his face in images posted online, but was identified and arrested in Bangkok in 2007."

He is also facing additional charges related to alleged incidents that occurred in Cambodia back in 2003, as well as charges in relating to alleged incidents that happened in Canada back in 2007.

As some may recall, he was arrested, charged and given a 6 year prison sentence in Bangkok in 2007. An Appeals Court reduced the sentence to 5 years, 4 months and ordered him to pay 50,000 baht compensation to the victim's family.

In 2012 he was released and (presumably) deported back to Canada where he was arrested on arrival. http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/sex-offender-arrested-in-canada-for-public-safety-police-1.977681

He was not charged for the same offenses he was imprisoned for in Thailand.

He was arrested under a section of the Criminal Code that allows investigators to take someone into custody when they fear he or she may commit a sexual offence against someone under the age of 16.

The judge gave him a set of conditions he either had to agree to or face a year in prison. Those conditions could include things like not being allowed to go to public parks, schools, pools or other places where there are lots of children, not being allowed to access the internet, restrictions on purchasing/possessing porn, curfews, etc.

There is a possibility that he could end up being labelled as a "dangerous offender" which could result in an "indeterminate sentence with no chance of parole for at least 7 years" (there are many criteria that have to be met before someone can be designated as a dangerous offender).

Unfortunately, it seems Canada has no way (currently) to prevent people like this from getting a new passport and travelling outside of the country at will ! Even if he is listed on the Sex Offender Registry, he only has to inform the authorities if he plans on being gone for more than 7 days !! And to make it even stupider, he only has to give notice within 7 days of his departure !!

Even if they inform the authorities, they don't have to tell them which countries they are going to, and the authorities can't force them to disclose that information !

To top it off, the Customs/Immigration people (CBSA) don't have access to the Offender Registry database, so they wouldn't have a clue if the guy standing in front of them had been convicted of any sex crimes.

It seems the current government has been trying to enact some legislation that would allow them to inform other countries if a registered (Canadian) sex offender was travelling to their country, but they are facing criticism from various advocacy groups claiming that would infringe on the Sex Offenders "right to privacy".

I really have to wonder at all the people that spend more time trying to protect and even gain more rights for convicted criminals while deciding that the rights of their victims are not a matter of consideration.

I guess there's more money in sucking up to criminals than there is for defending/protecting victims.

(edit to add date of news article)

Edited May 7, 2014 by Kerryd

[Rooo]

Moved to world news.