‘Disgusting and abhorrent’: Mount Uniacke molester gets seven-year sentence

A Mount Uniacke man who sexually abused a young person and shared photos of the criminal activity on the internet has been handed a seven-year prison sentence.

Kevin Ernest Lavigne, 60, pleaded guilty to four charges: sexual assault and making, possessing and distributing child pornography.

Lavigne was sentenced recently in Truro provincial court by Judge Marc Chisholm, who accepted a joint recommendation from lawyers.

“The facts of this case are truly disturbing,” Chisholm said. 

“The behaviour of the offender in relation to the child victim can properly be characterized as disgusting and abhorrent.”

The offences were committed between May 2021 and October 2021. There’s a publication ban on any information that would identify the victim.

Lavigne was first arrested Oct. 5, 2021, when members of the RCMP’s provincial internet child exploitation unit executed a search warrant at his residence on Highway 1. He was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography and one of distribution and was released on an undertaking to police with conditions.

Upon further investigation, Lavigne was picked up by police again eight days later and charged with sexual exploitation, sexual assault and making child pornography.

Admitted facts

According to an agreed statement of facts, Lavigne transferred child pornography to various online chat services. The illegal material was uploaded from his home and from an address in Halifax.

A Samsung cellphone seized during the search of Lavigne’s home was analyzed by police. That revealed numerous conversations between Lavigne and unknown persons on at least two social media applications in which they discussed and shared pictures and videos of child pornography.

The phone contained about 20 photos of a teen being molested by Lavigne, along with 1,689 other pictures and 88 videos of child pornography.

About 600 pictures were hidden in an app on the phone. The app appeared to be a calculator but was used to secretly store photos and videos, Crown attorney Rob Kennedy told the court.

The material on the phone included a wide range of child pornography, the vast majority of which depicted infants and toddlers. There were also some pictures of pubescent children between the ages of 12 and 17, Kennedy said, “but that would be the minority.”

‘Shock and disbelief’

The victim’s mother submitted an impact statement that was read to the court by a friend.

“It expressed in painful words the extent of the violation of her trust and the destruction of her world as a result of the offender’s behaviour, and her shock and disbelief that this happened,” Chisholm said in his sentencing decision.

“She made some statements on behalf of the child, hoping that the child didn’t fully appreciate what happened. . . . It is difficult to imagine the full extent of the emotional and psychological harm caused to that child, (who was) unable to cry out for help.”

The judge noted Lavigne came before the court with no previous criminal record and had been a contributing member of society. “So, these events came as a shock, it would seem, to everyone . . . who knew him.”

‘Driven by his sexual urges’

Lavigne told a forensic psychologist he could not understand how he could have committed the sexual abuse, Chisholm said, “not believing that he was capable of such a thing.

“That may be an adjustment of his mental thinking after the fact. It appears clear to the court that at the time, his actions were driven by his sexual urges and his desire to satisfy those urges.”

The judge said Lavigne’s guilty pleas were mitigating because they eliminated the need for anyone harmed by his actions to endure the stress of testifying in court.

Chisholm also spoke about the effects of Lavigne’s crimes on the community.

“The community is harmed by persons who engage in this type of behaviour,” he said. 

“Courts have repeatedly indicated that persons who engage in the creation, possession and distribution of child pornography are participating in an enterprise which victimizes children worldwide.

“And those injuries, those harms to children, are longstanding. Those pictures will be out there while those children grow and become adults. It is an ongoing harm to those children.”

In conclusion, Chisholm said he was satisfied the seven-year sentence recommended by Kennedy and defence lawyer Ian Hutchison was within the appropriate range and adequately addressed the primary objectives of denunciation and deterrence.

Remand credit

Lavigne was on remand for 653 days. The judge credited him for 980 days for that time and an extra 164 days because of the “negative circumstances” he experienced at the Dartmouth jail.

That left Lavigne with a net sentence of three years and 317 days.

Chisholm ordered Lavigne to have no contact with the victim or the victim’s mother while he’s serving his sentence.

He also compelled Lavigne to provide a DNA sample for a national databank and imposed a pair of 20-year orders: one requiring him to register as a sex offender and another restricting his contact with children.

The remaining charges were withdrawn by the prosecutor at the end of the sentencing hearing.