Acquitted of the importation of a doll of child pornography

Antoine Gagnon, who has worked as a defence lawyer in a firm from Quebec city, had his trial last November on charges of possession and importation of a doll that the Crown considered to be of child pornography, in the same way as a photo, a video or a story.

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June 9, 2020 15h22

Updated at 18h22

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Acquitted of the importation of a doll of child pornography

Isabelle Mathieu

The Sun

The doll erotic imported by Antoine Gagnon has been a subject of child pornography, but the evidence has not been made that the accused knew of the illegal nature of what he commanded, concludes judge Jean Asselin of the Court of Québec acquitted the ex-lawyer, 32-year-old.

At the end of its decision of 29 pages, one of the first in Canada for the importation of a doll-child, the judge Asselin believes that the absence of computer evidence of the purchase of the object is to raise a reasonable doubt about the guilt of the accused.

In this case, “singular”, as called by the judge, the tribunal’s mandate “was not to judge the accused on the wisdom of his choice on the moral plane”, but to determine whether the Crown has proved that the object was falling under the legal definition of child pornography and if the accused had knowledge of the nature of the doll at the time of purchase. It is this second question that the court answered in the negative.

Antoine Gagnon, who has worked as a defence lawyer in a firm from Quebec city, had his trial last November on charges of possession and importation of a doll that the Crown considered to be of child pornography, in the same way as a photo, a video or a story.

The defence submitted that the doll was a woman of small size, with a low chest.

The doll silicone has been purchased by Gagnon in may 2017. Ordered on the website of a chinese company, the doll measures 103 cm high and has three holes (mouth, vagina, anus). In the box, were a wig and pink clothes translucent and accessories to warm up the genital area of the doll.

The doll was caught at the Mirabel airport. Alarmed by the border services Agency, the Québec police organised a controlled delivery, by embedding an investigator in the UPS deliveryman. An hour after the delivery, the police have made a search of the dwelling where Antoine Gagnon lived alone, to Quebec, and took the box, still sealed.

The doll-child and its accessories have been presented in the court room during the trial, without the public. After analysis, the judge Jean Asselin considers obvious “that a reasonable person would consider that the dominant feature of it (the doll) is the depiction, for a sexual purpose, of a sexual organ or the anal region”. There is no doubt, adds the judge, that the appearance of the doll is that of a teenager under the age of 18 years. The object is indeed child pornography, ” concluded the court.

No trace of the purchase

The police officers of the City of Quebec, have examined the hardware of Gagnon. But because of the occupation of the suspect and to preserve the trust relationship client-lawyer, they obtained a search warrant restricted.

The history of research shows that Antoine Gagnon has sought dolls erotic with “flat-chest” (small chest). He has also visited a number of web sites that publish photos of children and adolescent girls in light clothing. At the end of march, Antoine Gagnon read a news article dealing with the case of Kenneth Harrison, a man of Newfoundland in trial for possession of a doll of child pornography.

The transaction leading to the purchase of the doll, April 17, 2017, has not been traced. The police officers had in hand the invoice to the object because Gagnon has delivered to the border authorities, in order to take possession of the package.

Antoine Gagnon was he really a doll-child? The judge Asselin holds that nowhere, there was evidence that the defendant viewed on the computer screen when ordering the doll.

“The fact that it uses certain keywords and visit the Web sites before or after the purchase can be made to believe that the accused wants to buy a sex doll to constitute child pornography, wrote the judge, Asselin. But, this evidence is not sufficient to prove knowledge of the accused of the nature of the object and its characteristics in the absence of proof of the content of the Web page he is viewing at the time of purchase, combined with the fact that he has not yet opened the package at the time of the search.”

The judge does not believe that the accused has given evidence of wilful ignorance : it has not acted in a clandestine manner, has used his personal details real to make the purchase, and has worked with the border authorities.

Although some pages are “suspicious,” notes the judge, the accumulated research carried out by the accused does not lead to the only rational conclusion that there is a doll looking like a girl below the age of 18 years of age, slice the judge. Antoine Gagnon, therefore, must be acquitted.

Antoine Gagnon has chosen not to testify at trial. Neither he nor his lawyers Me Gervais Labrecque and Me Kamy Pelletier-Kamphinith have made any comment after the acquittal.

Le Soleil