Lawyers are recommending a seven-year prison sentence for the Mount Uniacke sex offender

Lawyers are collectively recommending a seven-year prison sentence for a Mount Uniacke man who molested a youth and shared photos of the abuse on the internet.

Kevin Ernest Lavigne, 60, pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault in Shubenacadie provincial court on Thursday after the Crown agreed to withdraw an August 2022 guilty plea on charges of sexual exploitation.

Prosecutor Rob Kennedy told the court that the charges of exploitation were not supported by the facts.

Lavigne is also convicted of making, possessing and distributing child pornography. Last summer, he pleaded guilty to those charges.

The sentencing hearing began Thursday before Judge Marc Chisholm. Kennedy read the facts from the police report and the judge heard an impact statement filed by the victim’s mother.

Defense attorney Ian Hutchison then called Dr. Andrew Starzomski, a forensic psychologist who conducted a sex offender assessment on Lavigne.

The hearing will continue later this month, when both sides are expected to present evidence on whether Lavigne should receive more credit for his remand at Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth. Lavigne has been in custody since October 2021 and has not applied for bail.

The crimes were committed between May 2021 and October 2021. There is a publication ban on any information that could identify the victim.

Lavigne was originally arrested on October 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 count of distribution, and was released on October 5, 2021 a commitment to the police subject to conditions.

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

Agreed Facts

As per the admitted facts, Lavigne uploaded and sent child pornography to various online chat services. The illegal material was uploaded from his home and from an address in Halifax.

A Samsung cell phone seized during Lavigne’s house search has been analyzed by police. The analysis revealed numerous conversations between Lavigne and unknown individuals on at least two social media applications in which they discussed and shared images and videos of child pornography.

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

About 600 of the photos were hidden in a photo vault app on the phone. The app resembles a calculator, but it is used to secretly store photos and videos, Kennedy said.

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

He said the content included “sadism and bestiality, and anything that leads to that degree of depravity.”

‘Very tough two years’

In a statement read aloud by a friend, the victim’s mother said Lavigne doesn’t care what they’re going through.

“It’s been two very tough years,” she said.

She said she cried for months after the crimes came to light and barely left the house because her anxiety attacks were so bad.

“I don’t sleep, and when I do sleep, the nightmares are terrible,” said the mother.

“You broke our whole heart.”

She said that of all the people in their lives, Lavigne was the last one she thought would ever hurt them.

“I tell people I can’t hate the man I knew, but the man you chose to be,” the woman said.

“I hope the loss of your family, friends and good name was all worth it.”

Considered a low risk of recurrence

Starzomski met Lavigne several times for a total of seven hours. He said he believes Lavigne is at low risk for recidivism but would benefit from moderate-intensity sex offender programs available in the federal penitentiary system, as well as community-based programs after his release.

“His consistent questions and comments to me throughout all interview sessions really reflected a sense of disbelief on his part about how he could have done this,” Starzomski said of Lavigne, who had never run into the law before.

“He really couldn’t understand how and why he was engaging in this behavior and he was very interested and excited to have the opportunity to participate in programming to learn more about and deal with it.

“That was very clear during the first session. It was something that came up every time we met. He seemed troubled about what he had done.”