Mom gave nude images of daughters, their friends to secret boyfriend

Clandestine photos and videos of her daughters and friends, taken while they changed clothes in a bathroom, were made to satisfy the sexual urges of her secret boyfriend.

The London Free Press, by Jane Sims, July 15, 2021

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains details that may disturb readers.

Clandestine photos and videos of her daughters and friends, taken while they changed clothes in a bathroom, were made to satisfy the sexual urges of her secret boyfriend.

She kept up the steady diet of images and text messages for almost a decade, while keeping up appearances as a wife, a mother, a Sunday school teacher and a school volunteer.

“I can't say how sorry I am. I don't expect forgiveness but I hope in time they will,” the 52-year-old London woman said tearfully to Ontario Court Justice Allan Maclure before he sentenced her to four years in prison for voyeurism and five other child pornography counts.

“I have prayed for and will continue to pray for healing for all of the victims, because, with God, all things are possible and he can heal them. I'm so sorry,” she said.

That was a bit rich for the judge. Before agreeing to a joint sentencing submission, Maclure took the woman to the judicial woodshed, calling what she did “depraved,” “exploitive,” “offensive,” “perverted” and “utterly disgusting.”

And what she said about a higher power healing everyone came off “as both offensive and trite.”

“For you to so easily say God will heal them is to trivialize what's occurred to these children and their families and perhaps to trivialize your own responsibility,” Maclure said.

The judge's sharp comments came after hearing what the woman did with her daughters and playmates during a 10-year extramarital affair, plus the emotional victim impact statements from parents who once called her a friend.

A court-ordered publication ban is in place to protect the identities of the victims.

Assistant Crown attorney Andrea Mason told Maclure the London police found images of two sisters, one of whom was seven years old, and some of two other sisters from another family, on the man's electronic devices.

Police traced images to the sisters' mother, arrested her and searched her home. She admitted to the affair and to taking nude photos of her daughters and their friends to send to her boyfriend. The photos police found were taken between 2014 and 2020 showing her daughters in the bathtub, and all the girls dressing or undressing.

Videos were found at the man's home, including footage of him engaged in a sex act while holding children's underwear as he stood in a teenager's bedroom. The video was shot inside the home of family friends while they were away on vacation and the woman was watching their house.

The woman's daughters told police they knew the man and had been to his home when they were younger. One daughter said she, her mother and the man would “almost always be nude” during the visits even though she didn't want to take off her clothing. The other daughter said she saw the man's genitalia.

Text messages between the woman and man disclosed how they concocted the scheme to hide a camera disguised as a cellphone charger inside the bathroom. After the woman sent him the images, they would discuss in texts how much he liked them. In one exchange they joked while watching the video of a Good Friday church service where the woman pointed out victims he liked.

A video found from 2019 involved a 12-year-old school friend invited for a swimming playdate who was told to change in the bathroom where the camera was located.

During a search of the man's home, police found videos of the man performing a sex act in front of one of the woman's daughters while she played on a gaming device.

The family friend whose two daughters were videotaped in the bathroom – and who had trusted the woman enough to give her a house key – said in her victim impact statement she felt “disgusted and sick” when the police showed her the images.

“Never in my life have I felt such bitter anger and deep rage toward two people, feelings I didn't know I was even capable of having,” she wrote, adding she can't look at vacation photos now, knowing what was happening in her home while she was away.

Another mother wrote she chose her church and school to keep her daughter safe. “You took my trust and stomped all over it. I don't trust anyone, even my fellow Christians enough to allow my daughter to visit their home without me there. I fear someone else will take advantage of her like you did.”

She said the woman is “pure evil.”

Defence lawyer Damon Hardy told Maclure the woman had no criminal record and was raised in a community outside of London in a loving family with deep religious principles. She was shy and not very social, attended Christian schools and went to college. As a mother, she was involved in church and school.

She's now separated from her husband after 28 years of marriage.

Hardy said the woman wanted to plead guilty and has been in counselling. The pandemic delayed her hearing. He couldn't explain fully why she became involved with the man, who is still before the courts on child porn charges.

“There's no excusing her behaviour,” Hardy said.

The judge was stumped about the lure of the relationship. “How you ever became involved with this man is beyond me.” Maclure said. “Why you would stay involved with him is beyond me.”

“You facilitated this man's perversion and his exploitation of children. You, actually, in my view, encouraged it and were a part of it,” the judge said.

“A decade of deception, of lies and depravity, for the gratification of (the man) and yourself. There is no excuse for that.”