Winnipeg magician, educator to be sentenced on child-porn charges Oct. 4

A popular children's magician and former educational assistant whose arrest on child pornography charges sent shock waves through the Winnipeg school community will have to wait three weeks to learn how much time he will spend in prison. 

Daniel Kamenicky, 40, has pleaded guilty to one count each of making and possessing child pornography. 

Judge Sid Lerner adjourned a sentencing hearing Wednesday, saying he needed more time to consider the submissions of the Crown and defence, who recommended Kamenicky serve six years and three years in prison, respectively.

Kamenicky will return to court for sentencing Oct. 4.

Kamenicky, who performed under the stage name "Dan the Magic Man," was arrested in August 2016 after dozens of photos and videos he had taken of young children were inadvertently uploaded to the photo-sharing site Flickr.

Kamenicky had been employed as an educational assistant at Windsor School, a kindergarten to Grade 8 school in Elm Park, until he was arrested.

Yahoo, which owns Flickr, notified the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the U.S. Using Kamenicky's IP address, the centre tracked down his location and notified the Winnipeg Police Service's child exploitation unit.

Police executed a search warrant at Kamenicky's Winnipeg home and seized his cellphones and other electronic devices.

Recorded 30 pornographic videos of children

Kamenicky was found to be in possession of 50 pornographic videos involving children, 30 of which he recorded himself, and 53 pornographic images of children, 45 of which he took himself.

Kamenicky surreptitiously recorded dozens of girls between the ages of eight and 10 while working as an educational assistant and during magic shows outside school. Nine of the girls were ultimately identified by police.

Court heard Kamenicky would distract the girls and then take cell phone pictures or videos from underneath their dresses. The majority of the self-recorded images included no nudity.

"Although egregious, fortunately none of the children were touched," defence lawyer Dan Manning said in a submission to court Wednesday.

"It's not like he was asking them to lift their shirts or adopt poses that were objectively sexual."

Kamenicky was also found to be in possession of a small amount of child pornography he had downloaded from the internet, including videos of adults sexually assaulting children. 

The manner in which Kamenicky stored the videos and images suggested they had been downloaded impulsively, Manning said. 

"They were all over the place," Manning said. "There doesn't appear to be any evidence he took steps to avoid detection."

In a pre-sentence report previously provided to court, Kamenicky claimed he downloaded child pornography so he could find out who was making it and call police.

A handful of supporters, including Kamenicky's wife, attended Wednesday's hearing.

Kamenicky apologized for his actions in a brief address to the court.

"This sort of thing, I guarantee, will never happen again, without a doubt," he said.