Accessing child porn not part of possession offence, Appeal Court rules
TORONTO — The criminal charge of possessing child pornography does not include a lesser offence of accessing the lewd images, Ontario’s top court ruled on Wednesday.
In acquitting a man convicted of a possession charge, the Court of Appeal rejected prosecution arguments that it should instead convict him of accessing child porn.
“It is possible to possess child pornography without accessing it,” the Appeal Court said. “The elements of the offence of accessing are not intrinsically embraced within the offence of possession.”
The prosecution had argued that it is “legally impossible” to possess child pornography without at some point accessing it. However, on looking at the two charges — separate under the Criminal Code — the Appeal Court disagreed.