SELECTED CASE LAW
ONTARIO:
In 2016 ONCJ 594, Mr. L was pleaded guilty to receiving financial or material benefit from sale of sexual services and advertising the sale of sexual services (s. 286.4). L offence was commissioned when the first complainant was 15 and Mr. L was 17. Mr. L met the complainant at a party and they began to follow each other on Twitter. L messaged her on Twitter and convinced her to sell sexual services. The first complainant included her 16-year old friend in the planned transaction. The complainants met with L who took them to a hotel to take explicit photos, which were then posted in advertisements on the website Backpage. After the ads were post-ed, L managed the complainants’ communications and responses to their ads via the internet and text message. He kept essentially all of the money earned. Police recovered a substantial amount of electronic evidence capturing text communications between the complainants and L, which was tendered at trial. J had tried to convince them to delete the texts between them. The Court found L’s actions were planned and deliberate and that he demonstrated an exploitative, misogynistic, and demeaning mindset towards the complainants (as revealed in text messages), which were aggravating factors in sentencing. The court also concluded Mr. L caused the girls bodily harm by causing a long-term impact on their mental health. He was sentenced to 6 months deferred custody and 2 years of probation.
Criminal Offence(s): Criminal Harassment, Human Trafficking and Advertising Sexual Services