Warning: graphic content
Repeat child porn offender Shane Dale Pattison did not receive sex offender treatment during his first sentence because he did not commit a hands-on offence.
As a result, Pattison essentially fell through the cracks, parole officer Jessica Diks testified at Pattison’s long-term offender hearing in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench on Tuesday.
The sentencing process seeks to have Pattison, 28, designated a long-term offender by establishing that his risk to reoffend can eventually be managed in the community following a determinate sentence.
Last June, Pattison pleaded guilty to 42 charges of possessing and sharing child porn. He was caught sharing and viewing child pornography in 2016, just months after his statutory release from a five-year prison term for more than 50 child porn offences.
The Crown and defence have jointly submitted that Pattison receive a seven-year sentence followed by 10 years of community supervision — an important part of the long-term offender designation.
Diks testified that Pattison should have received some sort of treatment for sexual offending because although he was considered a low risk for hands-on offending, he was at a moderate risk to reoffend by using child pornography.
Corrections staff assessed Pattison as a low-risk offender upon intake at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon, court heard. Diks said federal sex offender treatment programs do not address low-risk child porn offenders who have not committed a hands-on sex crime. She said there is a concern about placing child porn offenders in sex offender treatment because it could escalate their offending.
Pattison was already displaying signs of escalating behaviour, Det. Sgt. Darren Parisien testified. The child exploitation expert described how Pattison’s 2016 child porn collection was worse than his 2010 collection, how the man fantasized about child rape and murder and told police he was worried he wouldn’t be able to control his behaviour if he had a child.
Pattison now has a young son who he says he has never abused because he is “into girls.” The child is in Pattison’s mother’s care.
Parisien said Pattison is addicted to child porn, telling court “He couldn’t stop. He wanted to stop.”
On Monday, psychologist Dr. Tarah Hook testified that Pattison can be managed in the community if he is willing to take treatment programs to reduce his risk of reoffending.