(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

A 51-year-old man Vernon man, arrested four-and-a-half-years ago for having almost 3,000 images of child pornography on his computer, will spend six months behind bars.

At the Vernon courthouse Monday, Nov. 9, B.C. Provincial Court Judge Richard Hewson sentenced Stacey Darren Alec to six months jail time following a joint recommendation from crown and defence lawyers.

The court heard that Alec had been arrested in May 2016 after Vernon RCMP raided the property where he lived with his mother and found more than 3,000 images and videos containing child pornography on various electronic devices.

Following his arrest, Alec admitted to police the images were his and was charged with possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography, and importing or distributing child pornography. He was then released on bail.

He was sentenced today on one charge of possessing child pornography. The Crown stayed the remaining two charges.

Judge Hewson said Alec's computer contained images of children from five to 16 years of age and included children engaged in sexual activity with other children as well as adult males.

"The names of the children victimized in the images are not known to anyone, what is known though is that every single one of those children has a name... and suffers to this day from the abuse that was inflicted on them," Judge Hewson told the court.

The court heard how Alec himself had himself been a victim of sexual abuse when he was five years old.

Following his arrest, Alec had been made homeless. He'd struggled with alcohol addiction since he was a teenager and had rarely worked throughout his adult life. At the time of his arrest, he lived with his mother, had little contact with the outside world and was largely confined to his room playing video games.

Judge Hewson highlighted several "significant disruptions" that had affected Alec's life.

"When those disruptions are considered together they explain many of his troubles," Hewson said. "The first disruption was the intergenerational effects of his indigenous ancestry."

Judge Hewson said Alec's father had attended the notorious Lejac Residential School near Fraser Lake, and lost his traditional way of life was deprived of the opportunity to learn how to parent his own children.

Quoting from a report, Judge Hewson said Alec had stopped being a "happy child" after he was sexually abused.

"As much as Mr. Alec's personal circumstances attract sympathy the circumstances of his crime generate disgust," Judge Hewson told the court.

Alec pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography in 2018 and the delay in court proceeding appeared to come from various psychological assessments and reports that had taken place.

Hewson said statements written in the reports indicated that Alec knew what he had done was wrong, but none of the statements clearly suggested he had perfect insight into his crimes.

At an earlier court appearance Crown prosecutor Brock Bellrichard said it was troubling that Alec had not been driven to access the images because of intoxication, but that he was turned on by the images and had a tendency to access them when he was bored.

The court had also heard Alec had found stable housing six months ago, but the organization that ran the apartment complex would not hold the space for him while he was in prison. What Alec would do for housing when released from jail was not discussed in court.

Following his prison sentence, Alec will remain on probation for 36 months and is banned from going to a public park or swimming pool for 10 years. He also had to submit a DNA sample and will remain on the sex offenders registrar for five years.

Members of Alec's family were in the courtroom to hear the sentencing and he nodded goodbye as he was taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

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