Luring a child
R. v. M.W.
A publication ban applies. The offender is not named.
- Below the Crown's ask
- No jail for a violent offence
Sentence and the Crown's position
A conditional sentence is served in the community, usually under house arrest. It counts as no custody here.
What the law allows
The offender was found guilty after trial of child luring for communicating online with a person under 18 in 2010 to arrange to take intimate photographs of her; the Crown proceeded summarily. The Crown sought eight to twelve months in custody and opposed a conditional sentence, while the defence sought a suspended sentence or, alternatively, a conditional sentence. Judge Atwood imposed a 15-month conditional sentence followed by two years of probation, finding that the offender posed a low risk after 15 years without reported offending and that a conditional sentence, while longer than the custody sought, reflected its lesser deprivation of liberty.
In the judge's words
1The sentence of the Court will be a 15-month CSO. While this is greater than the 8-12 month prison term sought by the prosecution, it reflects the reality that a CSO does not impose the same level of deprivation of liberty as an actual term of imprisonment: Proulx at ¶ 40.
The record
- Convicted of
- Luring a child (CC 172.1)
- Prior convictions
- 2 prior convictions, 2 violent1
- At the time of the offence
- Not stated1
- Defence asked for
- Suspended sentence1
- Appeal
- Not yet checked
- Counsel
- Crown: Eric Taylor, Lisandra Naranjo Hernandez
Defence: James Giacomantonio
Sources
- R. v. M.W., 2025 NSPC 16 Court decision, CanLII, June 27, 2025
[3] The prosecution seeks a custodial sentence of eight-to-twelve months, a term of probation, and an array of ancillary orders; the prosecution opposes the imposition of a conditional-sentence order.
[4] … seeks a suspended sentence, or, in the alternative, a conditional sentence order [CSO].
[16] … At the time, there was no mandatory minimum penalty. … [18] Accordingly, as no minimum penalty applies, the following would be legal sentences:
[6] … Under appeal are two convictions for offences under § 152 of the Code entered on 4 July 2024 … [63] … He had no criminal record at the time, although he has since been convicted of child-sexual-abuse offences, committed in 2008.
[101] The sentence of the Court will be a 15-month CSO. While this is greater than the 8-12 month prison term sought by the prosecution, it reflects the reality that a CSO does not impose the same level of deprivation of liberty as an actual term of imprisonment: Proulx at ¶ 40.
[5] For the following reasons, the Court places … on a CSO to run for a term of fifteen months, followed by a two-year term of probation.
- R. v. M.W., 2025 NSPC 16 Court decision, Courts of Nova Scotia