Pornographic picture of infant found on computer - RCMP
Published Wednesday January 14th, 2009
An RCMP computer forensic expert testified Tuesday that he found more than 1,600 pornographic files featuring children on a former Fredericton Transit bus driver's computer.
Kevin Shannon, 46, is standing trial this week on a number of charges, including several sex-related offences.
Among them are a Sept. 22, 2007, count of possession of child pornography; making child pornography between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2003; and two counts of child exploitation.
Payman Hakimian, a computer expert with the RCMP's technological crime unit for the Atlantic region, testified Tuesday he found almost 1,700 images featuring child pornography on hard drives found in Shannon's home.
One of those images involved an infant, he said, and 91 were categorized as child-pornography obscenity images, meaning they were of an even more egregious nature.
He said there's no way the files featuring child pornography could have been downloaded onto Shannon's computer by a virus.
He said many of the images he recovered had been partially deleted.
Most of the images were apparently downloaded from the Internet, Hakimian said, but some were "first-generation images," meaning they were taken using the suspect's camera.
Some of the filenames for those pictures were "Kevin's picture" followed by a number, he said.
One of the clues indicating a handful of photographs were first-generation images was the fact they were taken in Shannon's apartment, the forensic analyst said.
Several of the images that Hakimian found on Shannon's computers were shown in court Tuesday. However, the screen faced the judge, and those in the gallery weren't permitted to view the images. Hakimian, the lawyers and Shannon were able to view the images.
Heather Jo McCullough testified Tuesday she discovered images featuring what appeared to be nude, underage girls on Shannon's computer when she was staying with him for a couple of days in September 2007.
She said she met Shannon at the bus stop at Kings Place the evening of Sept. 21, 2007, and he offered to take her in.
When Shannon went to work the next day, she used his computer and found digital photos, she said.
"I couldn't see their faces, but they were all naked," she said.
In the same folder, she also found a picture of a fully clothed girl whom she believed to be no more than 10 years of age.
McCullough, who was 20 years old at the time, said she used the computer to send an instant message to a friend, Melissa Arbeau, asking her to come over and see what she found.
"I showed them to her," she said.
Arbeau testified Monday, recounting the same story. She insisted they report what McCullough had found to police, and both provided statements.
McCullough testified Tuesday that she didn't access pornography while using Shannon's computer.
McCullough was supposed to testify Monday as well, but she failed to appear in court. A warrant was issued for her arrest, but she came to court in Burton from Saint John on Tuesday after learning about the warrant.
She also testified that the same evening she discovered the pictures, Shannon propositioned her, offering her $20 in exchange for a sexual encounter.
She refused, she said, and she left the apartment that night, opting to stay with another friend.
The trial resumes today.
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