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BC JUDGE DECLARES NOTORIOUS CHILD PORNOGRAPHER'S WRITINGS 'ARTISTIC'

Same Judge That Struck Down Canada's Child Porn Law in Previous Sharpe Case

VANCOUVER, March 26, 2002 (LSN.ca) - B.C. Supreme Court Justice Duncan Shaw ruled today that the pedophile writings of notorious child pornographer John Robin Sharpe have "artistic" merit. Shaw was however found guilty of two counts of possession of child pornography due to pornographic photos of children found in his possession. His sentencing for the two counts is set for May 2.

Justice Shaw's ruling shocked many Canadians since the written material produced by Sharpe included lurid descriptions of homosexual sodomistic rape and torture of young boys. Sharpe called one of his 'stories' "Boyabuse." In his ruling Justice Shaw said, "I find there is some objective established artistic value to Boyabuse."

Commenting on the ruling, Gwen Landolt, a lawyer with REAL Women Canada said the case would again travel up the courts and likely take years to finally resolve. She noted that Justice Shaw's ruling proves that there is a severe problem with the 'artistic' exception in child pornography laws. "Why bother having a law prohibiting child porn when you can stamp it artistic and anything goes," Landolt told LifeSite.

Sharpe, a child porn dealer was first put on trial in 1996 after police twice raided his house to find photos of nude children and his own homosexual pedophile fantasy writings. Sharpe successfully challenged the Canadian anti-pornography law and the ruling was upheld at the B.C. Supreme Court level, thus putting the law on hold until the case was taken up by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the law, but weakened it by permitting child pornography in personal stories and drawn images not for distribution.

Of note, Justice Shaw was the same judge who in 1999 struck down Canada's child pornography laws based on Sharpe's argument that they were a restriction to his freedom. In his Jan 15, 1999 ruling Justice Shaw wrote: "There is no evidence that demonstrates a significant increase in the danger to children caused by pornography."

See related LifeSite coverage:
Supreme Court Rewrites Law To Allow Child Pornographers More Freedom
http://lsn.ca/ldn/2001/jan/010126.html#1
Canada is a haven for Kiddie porn:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/jan/00012703.html
Rory Leishman on the Sharpe case:
http://www.lifesite.net/interim/1999/aug/1charter.html
BC Government funds child pornographer presentation:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/sept/99092902.html
Another 32,000 signatures against child pornography
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/june/0006145 .html

See the CBC coverage at:
http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/03/26/sharpe020326

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