Winnipeg man who argued past brain tumour should keep him out of prison sentenced to 3 years for child porn

WARNING: This article contains details of child sexual abuse.

A Winnipeg man who pleaded guilty to child-porn possession will serve three years in prison, after he unsuccessfully argued he should be allowed to serve his sentence in the community because he may require medical care related to a past brain tumour.

On April 28, 2024 — the first day of his trial — Gregory Hall, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of child pornography possession. However, he said he did not remember committing the crime due to brain cancer-related memory loss.

The Crown and defence both recommended Hall receive a sentence of two years less a day. The defence pushed for a conditional sentence order that would have him kept out of custody. 

In an April 25 decision, provincial court Judge Michelle Bright disagreed, sentencing Hall to three years in prison. 

In September 2020, the U.S.-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children received a report that a Kik messenger account with the username "mirror13" uploaded child sexual abuse material to the app. The account was connected to Hall's IP address in Winnipeg.

'Extensive and horrific'

In July 2022, Winnipeg police searched Hall's home. 

They found 427 unique images and 34 unique videos of child sexual abuse material across four devices that were collected between September 2020 and Hall's arrest in October 2022. He claimed he was "hacked." 

Hall's collection of abuse material — which included images and videos of adults forcing sex, bondage and bestiality on girls who ranged from toddlers to 13-year-olds — was "extensive and horrific," Bright wrote, displaying "elevated levels of sexual violence and depravity." 

Police also found more than 5,000 files of "investigative interest" in Hall's home, including inappropriate images and videos of girls ranging from toddlers to pre-teens.

Despite pleading guilty, Hall maintained his past brain tumour affected his ability to remember the crime.  

Hall said the memory loss had no other impact on his life, including his ability to complete daily tasks and maintain employment, the judge's decision says. 

'No impact on his moral culpability'

An oncologist's letter included in the decision confirmed Hall was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2020 and completed chemotherapy the following year. Patients with this type of tumour "can experience periods of short-term memory loss," the letter said. 

Hall is currently cancer free, the decision says.

According to the oncologist's letter, Hall did experience some seizures related to his tumour. Hall said his condition would make serving time in an institution more difficult.

However, Hall has been on anti-seizure medication and has not had a seizure since December 2022, the oncologist wrote. Hall said he has had seizures while in and out of custody since then but did not provide the court with any proof, Bright wrote. 

Bright found Hall's past cancer diagnosis irrelevant. 

"There is no evidence of any nexus between the accused's medical condition and his offending," Bright wrote. 

"There is no evidence that it had any impact on his ability to understand that what he was doing was wrong or that he was causing real harm to children and as such it has no impact on his moral culpability."

While Hall said he would be willing to do sex offender counselling, he told a probation officer he didn't think it was necessary, the decision says. 

This was "troubling," Bright wrote. 

"He has no insight into his offending. He has not participated in any counselling or programming to understand and address the precursors of his offending," Bright wrote. 

"Even if his claim that he has no memory of committing the offences is true, he does not seem at all interested in finding out why, for over two years, he was searching for and collecting hundreds of [child sexual abuse material] images and storing them on multiple devices in his home," Bright wrote.

Conditional sentencing orders like the one sought by Hall's defence are rare and would need "extraordinary or compelling mitigating circumstances" to be justified, Bright wrote.  

The judge decided the two-year sentence recommended by both the Crown and the defence didn't go far enough. 

Two years "is not proportionate to" the seriousness of Hall's crime and his degree of responsibility, Bright wrote. 

"When I consider the seriousness of the offence, the size and elevated level of depravity in the collection, the number of devices on which it was being stored, the risk to reoffend, and the lack of insight into the offending, along with the other relevant factors outlined above, the least restrictive sentence that appropriately condemns the accused's conduct and sends the message that the court takes sexual violence against children seriously is three years imprisonment," Bright wrote.

If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. ​