Re-trial for alleged online predator
Author: TONY BLAIS Court Bureau, SUN MEDIA
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Alberta’s highest court has overturned the acquittal of an Edmonton man accused of Internet luring for seeking sex from a 12-year-old Ontario girl and talking dirty to her.

In a decision released today, the Court of Appeal of Alberta set aside the March 31, 2006, acquittal and ordered Craig Bartholomew Legare, 37, to have a new trial.

In the landmark decision upholding Canada’s relatively new Internet luring law – in effect since July 2002 – the appeal panel ruled Parliament had enacted an offence of communication, and not of physical contact.

The purpose of the law is to protect children from online predators and is aimed at such predators’ prepatory conduct, said Justice Jack Watson in the written decision.

Watson said the trial judge erred by ruling the law required an intent to lure a child to a meeting and said the offence is not one where “intent to achieve physical contact between the communicator and specific recipient is an essential ingredient.”

The three-judge panel did note it did not consider if the Internet luring law would withstand constitutional scrutiny under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

When granting the acquittal, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice John Agrios called Legare’s behavior “despicable and repugnant,” but said the evidence didn’t show he planned to follow through on his lurid sexual fantasies. The appeal panel also upheld Legare’s acquittal on a second charge of inviting sexual touching, based on a lack of intent due to the Crown conceding Legare did not make any efforts to meet the girl nor did he intend to do so.

Legare admitted in an agreed statement of facts that he talked dirty with the 12-year-old girl in an Internet chat room on April 28, 2003. She said she was 13 while he claimed he was a 17-year-old boy. He was actually 32. Legare had two sexual chats with the girl that day. The second chat, which was retrieved and preserved by the girl’s father, runs almost an hour and begins with the girl saying “hey!” and Legare saying “hi horny girl.” The chat was almost entirely sexual and included both parties saying they wanted to have sex with each other.

During the chat, the girl gave Legare her phone number and he called her home twice. The second time, he told the girl he would love to perform oral sex on her.

Alarmed, the girl hung up. Her freaked-out dad called police after his older daughter told him a man had called the house asking for the younger girl. Legare was later arrested by Edmonton police.

He will now have to appear in Court of Queen’s Bench criminal appearance court and set a trial date.

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