Sex doll is child porn, psychiatrist tells trial of St. John's man
Geoff Bartlett | CBC News | Posted: March 21, 2017 1:46 PM | Last Updated: March 21, 2017
'We don't want people to fantasize about sex with children,' says Peter Collins
A forensic psychiatrist repeated his contention that a Japanese doll imported by a St. John's man four years ago is child pornography, as a trial continued in Newfoundland and Labrador provincial court on Tuesday.
"The doll is manufactured to depict a child and it's also manufactured for an adult to have sex with it," Peter Collins testified.
Collins took the stand at the trial for Kenneth Harrisson, 51, who was charged in March 2013 after the doll was intercepted by Canadian Border Services on its way to Newfoundland from Japan.
Harrisson has pleaded not guilty to charges of possessing child pornography.
While the defence argued that Collins's opinion should not be allowed at trial, Judge Mark Pike disagreed.
Potential for abuse
"Children are being abused to create child pornography imagery. With a doll no real child is being victimized but there is still potential for the user to go on and abuse other children," said Collins.
"We don't want people to fantasize about sex with children because it increases the risk that they will have sex with children."
Collins told the court Tuesday that some pedophiles can become excited by erotic imagery of children, while some are satiated by that imagery.
Harrisson's lawyer Bob Buckingham objected, saying "there is no evidence that there is a pedophile in this case."
Buckingham is also suggesting the doll may not depict a child.
The trial is set to continue this week, and continue for another two days in April.
The Crown is expected to apply for a ban preventing images of the doll from being published.