West Island Deacon Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

CJAD
February 21, 2014

http://www.cjad.com/cjad-news/2014/02/21/west-island-deacon-pleads-guilty-to-child-porn-charges


Former Deacon of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and West Islander William (Bill) Kokesch pleaded guilty to three child pornography charges in Montreal court Friday.

With his wife in the room, Crown Prosecutor Dominique Potvin read the evidence police acquired against him.

Nearly 100,000 images and 2,100 videos depicting children under 10 years old were found on the man’s hard drive.

"He regrets all the pain this has caused for his family, for his friend, for his church, it's not an easy thing," said his lawyer Jeffrey Boro.

"The problem with this type of crime is that you don't realize when you're doing it that you are doing damage,” he added.

Kokesch appeared in court wearing a blue winter jacket and glasses, he has been out on bail.

The investigation into Kokesch began when Vancouver police busted someone else for child porn related crimes in 2012. Evidence on that person’s computer included a username, and police traced it back to Kokesch across the country.

“The law is what the law is and he’s going to have to deal with that,” his lawyer said.

The court has ordered a psycho-sexual evaluation be presented in May in advance of pre-sentencing arguments.

“One of the things to determine is whether or not a person who looks at child pornography is actually a true pedophile and will perhaps represent a true danger to society, especially to young children,” Boro said.

Here is RAW audio of the media scrum with the Crown and defence after the court appearance: