Shameful !
'I'm a victim,' insists man guilty of child pornography, sexual assault
Despite describing himself as a victim, a man guilty of child pornography and sexually assaulting minors was handed a 12-year sentence Friday.
Part of that term includes a conviction for obstructing justice when Tanzirul Alam, through hundreds of phone calls while in the Calgary Remand Centre, convinced one of his victims to lie in court for him.
Alam abused his three underage female victims and the justice system itself, said Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sandy Park.
“He showed disdain for the judicial system, it is a very serious offence,” said Park, who also noted Alam’s sexual crimes spanned 3 1/2 years.
“The girls were in fact child victims … children must be protected from themselves because of their lack of maturity and foresight and adults must not be allowed to exploit those vulnerabilities.”
The man was convicted of 17 offences involving the girls, ages 14 and 15, including sexual assault, sexual contact with a person under 16, luring, making and transmitting child pornography and obstruction.
His victims were lured on the Internet, which soon led to sexual acts that were recorded on video, some of the images being shared on the Internet.
“The potential for a lifelong impact on the complainants is acknowledged by this court,” said Park.
He also noted Alam continued his sex crimes while on release from the remand centre in 2014.
In a nearly 20-minute statement to the court, Alam, 29, insisted his difficult upbringing in Bangladesh, which included being tortured by Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists, contributed to his offences in Canada.
He said the Canadian government does a poor job in educating newcomers like him to the country’s legal realities and predicted more refugees would be committing similar offences.
“I believe, in a way, I’m a victim of a system that is not perfect,” said Alam, who apologized to his victims, one of whom looked on.
“My intention was never to hurt you … I’m not heartless.”
Park said Alam “lies to serve his own purposes but has some remorse as shown in his statement.”
Because of his obstructive conduct while in remand, Park reduced most of Alam’s credit for time served from the usual 1.5 days to 1.25 days for each day spent in lockup.
That means he’ll serve eight years and eight months before parole eligibility.
It’s an “awesome, meaningful sentence,” said Crown prosecutor Donna Spaner, adding it employs tough sentencing guidelines established by the previous federal Tory government.
“It’s a recognition of Parliament’s intent to criminalize predatory matters of Internet exploitation of children,” she said. “That’s a manslaughter sentence.”
Spaner also derided Alam’s statement as “self-serving” nonsense and said his warnings about refugees were false and potentially damaging.
The mother of one of the victims said she was happy with the sentence and hopes the prison time will help Alam and the community.
“He will not be free for a very long time, and with any luck, he will get some mental help and rehabilitation while in prison, so that upon his release he will never do these seriously damaging, disgusting crimes to anyone ever again,” said the woman, who can’t be named to protect the identities of the victims.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local...rimes-against-children-insists-hes-the-victim
'I'm a victim,' insists man guilty of child pornography, sexual assault
Despite describing himself as a victim, a man guilty of child pornography and sexually assaulting minors was handed a 12-year sentence Friday.
Part of that term includes a conviction for obstructing justice when Tanzirul Alam, through hundreds of phone calls while in the Calgary Remand Centre, convinced one of his victims to lie in court for him.
Alam abused his three underage female victims and the justice system itself, said Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sandy Park.
“He showed disdain for the judicial system, it is a very serious offence,” said Park, who also noted Alam’s sexual crimes spanned 3 1/2 years.
“The girls were in fact child victims … children must be protected from themselves because of their lack of maturity and foresight and adults must not be allowed to exploit those vulnerabilities.”
The man was convicted of 17 offences involving the girls, ages 14 and 15, including sexual assault, sexual contact with a person under 16, luring, making and transmitting child pornography and obstruction.
His victims were lured on the Internet, which soon led to sexual acts that were recorded on video, some of the images being shared on the Internet.
“The potential for a lifelong impact on the complainants is acknowledged by this court,” said Park.
He also noted Alam continued his sex crimes while on release from the remand centre in 2014.
In a nearly 20-minute statement to the court, Alam, 29, insisted his difficult upbringing in Bangladesh, which included being tortured by Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists, contributed to his offences in Canada.
He said the Canadian government does a poor job in educating newcomers like him to the country’s legal realities and predicted more refugees would be committing similar offences.
“I believe, in a way, I’m a victim of a system that is not perfect,” said Alam, who apologized to his victims, one of whom looked on.
“My intention was never to hurt you … I’m not heartless.”
Park said Alam “lies to serve his own purposes but has some remorse as shown in his statement.”
Because of his obstructive conduct while in remand, Park reduced most of Alam’s credit for time served from the usual 1.5 days to 1.25 days for each day spent in lockup.
That means he’ll serve eight years and eight months before parole eligibility.
It’s an “awesome, meaningful sentence,” said Crown prosecutor Donna Spaner, adding it employs tough sentencing guidelines established by the previous federal Tory government.
“It’s a recognition of Parliament’s intent to criminalize predatory matters of Internet exploitation of children,” she said. “That’s a manslaughter sentence.”
Spaner also derided Alam’s statement as “self-serving” nonsense and said his warnings about refugees were false and potentially damaging.
The mother of one of the victims said she was happy with the sentence and hopes the prison time will help Alam and the community.
“He will not be free for a very long time, and with any luck, he will get some mental help and rehabilitation while in prison, so that upon his release he will never do these seriously damaging, disgusting crimes to anyone ever again,” said the woman, who can’t be named to protect the identities of the victims.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local...rimes-against-children-insists-hes-the-victim
