GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING: This story contains details that some readers may find disturbing. Discretion is advised.
A 65-year-old volunteer hockey coach and admitted child pornographer who met a victim on a sadomasochistic website was released upon sentencing Tuesday.
James Alex Brunton was sentenced to three years probation, plus the time he has spent in custody since his arrest in May 2013.
"Hopefully Mr. Brunton can gradually start regaining the trust of his family -- they're going to support him -- and hopefully the trust of his community," defence lawyer Alison Mackay said outside the Old City Hall courthouse Tuesday afternoon.
Brunton pleaded guilty in January to various child pornography offences, including the secret videotaping of teenage hockey players in the showers and change rooms of a Peterborough, Ont., arena.
The most troubling allegations, however, stemmed from an online relationship Brunton developed with a Colorado teen.
Brunton met the boy through an online fetish community when the boy was 15. Justice Peter Harris described the website as "a profoundly bizarre and depraved website...that specializes in postings, stories and private messages involving sexual and cannibalistic fantasies."
Over the course of three years, the teen sent Brunton nude pictures of himself, many of them with violent undertones.
"Most appalling was a ghastly 'fantasy' contract that had been entered into online with the youth, who had agreed to be used as a sex slave, then tortured, dismembered and eaten," Harris wrote in his sentencing judgment.
According to an agreed statement of facts submitted by Crown and defence lawyers when Brunton pleaded guilty in January, the contract was supposed to be carried out after the teen turned 18, at which point he, according to the contract, planned to come to Canada.
But Mackay maintained that the contract would "absolutely not" have been carried out and "it was purely fantasy-based."
While waiting to be released in the hallway of the courthouse, Brunton said the website, and his involvement with it, was "fantasy."
Asked whether he was done with that online community, Brunton replied: "Have to," referring to a court order that he not visit pornographic websites. Pressed further, Brunton said he would be done with the website even without the court order.
The Colorado teen had sent 87 photographs to Brunton, "more than 30 of which represented child pornography," Harris wrote. "In addition, three short video clips were made at Mr. Brunton's request..."
Referring to a psychiatric report, Harris wrote that Brunton "recognizes 'that he has deviant sexual interests that, while purely fantasy-based, are also socially repugnant and would require professional help to deal with.'"
In the courthouse hallway, Brunton said he is looking forward to seeing his wife for the first time in three months.
Court heard that while Brunton's wife considered ending the marriage upon his arrest, she chose to stick by him.
Justice Harris pointed out that he received a letter from Brunton's wife, Patricia, "who has expressed shock at learning about these charges. She states, 'I realize it will take time to rebuild trust, but I am willing to stand behind him and make sure that he gets the help that he needs.'"
Brunton's daughter, who lives in the United States, told the judge she supports her mother sticking by her father's side. In her words: "I am encouraged to hear that they have acknowledged the need for more open communication and are setting up resources to get him help to deal with his issues. My dad has a number of health concerns and while that does not excuse the mistakes that he has made, I believe he would be better off in the care of my mother."
Following Brunton's admission of making, possessing and distributing child pornography -- court heard that he shared images of the Colorado teen with other members of the fetish online community -- Crown attorney Mike Callaghan asked for a sentence of two years less a day in jail, plus three years probation. Given time already served in custody, that would have seen Brunton released before the end of the year.
Mackay had asked for the sentence that was ultimately handed down -- that Brunton begin his probation upon sentencing.
"Balancing the repugnancy of the material possessed, made and distributed by Mr. Brunton and the paramount need to deter, denounce and condemn his conduct -- with all the factors that speak to the need to exercise restraint with a first offender with a good reputation and community supports, demonstrated remorse, insight and motivation to take treatment, and most importantly, with a diagnosis that suggests he presents a low risk to reoffend -- a total sentence in the range of fifteen to eighteen months is called for on the basis of the sentencing precedents I have reviewed," Harris wrote.
In addition to his three years probation, Brunton was ordered to stay away from places where children under 16 can reasonably be expected to be, unless accompanied by his wife or another adult designated by his wife. He was also prohibited from "knowingly placing himself in a position of trust" with children under 16 and prohibited from using the Internet to contact or communicate with children.
Brunton was also ordered to submit a DNA sample, which he did Tuesday at the courthouse.
Finally, Brunton's name will be added to the Sex Offender Registry for life.
