Sentencing for the former Atlantic BBB CEO is scheduled for September in Shubenacadie
There has been another adjournment of the sentencing hearing of an Enfield man who pleaded guilty to two sex-related charges involving girls a year ago.
Peter Alan Moorhouse, 49, lost his job as president and CEO of Atlantic Canada’s Better Business Bureau after he and another Enfield man were charged in February 2021 by the RCMP’s provincial internet child exploitation unit.
Moorhouse pleaded guilty in Shubenacadie Provincial Court in July 2022 to charges of arranging with the other man to commit a sex offense against a child under the age of 16 and making child pornography.
Moorhouse’s sentencing hearing has been postponed several times. It was eventually set to launch in late May, but was again postponed pending a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada in a Quebec case on the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentences.
Moorhouse’s charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison. Attorney Ian Hutchison wants his client’s sentencing postponed, hoping the highest court will scrap the mandatory minimums.
The sentencing hearing was scheduled for July 10 and July 20, but the Supreme Court has yet to make a decision. New dates were set on Thursday, when Hutchison and crown attorney Terri Lipton appeared in court by telephone.
The hearing is now scheduled for September 21 and September 29. The defense plans to gather evidence from a forensic psychologist on day one, and lawyers will file comments on day two.
Judge Marc Chisholm booked another appearance for a status update on Aug. 17. If the top court’s decision is not made by then, he said the sentencing hearing may have to be postponed again.
Lipton has not opposed Hutchison’s requests for a stay, saying “it is worth waiting” for Ottawa’s ruling, which could shorten the amount of time it takes for arguments over the appropriate sentence for Moorhouse.
“It’s always a concern for the court to make sure things move quickly after a guilty plea has been made,” Chisholm said. “But as counsel has emphasized, the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision will address an important aspect of this case.”
Moorhouse remains free on $10,000 bail as of February 2021 with conditions prohibiting internet use and contact with children. He was also instructed to stay away from parks, playgrounds, schools, community centers and other places where persons under the age of 18 are likely to be present.
The other man arrested in the case, Carlos Ayapal Gonzalez Moraga, 38, pleaded guilty to charges of sexual interference and making child pornography in March at the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Truro. Last month he was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
According to the agreed statement of facts in Moraga’s sentencing, he and Moorhouse exchanged nearly 250 emails discussing a plan to use drugs and alcohol to sexually assault two girls, ages 14 and 12. Those writings, which were discovered by the 14-year-old’s mother and reported to the police before the attacks could take place, constituted child pornography.
Moraga was also charged with sexual interference for groping the 14-year-old on two occasions.
On Thursday, Chisholm said it would be helpful if counsel could provide the court with a copy of Moraga’s sentencing decision.
