Sexual Abuse Network of Canada
NOVA SCOTIA-Dr. William Richard Vitale enters Halifax provincial court with lawyer Stan MacDonald on Wednesday for sentencing on two counts of possession of child pornography. - Maria Weigl
A longtime Halifax pediatrician removed his suit coat and handed it to his son Wednesday before he was led away to begin serving jail time for possessing countless images of child pornography.
Dr. William Richard Vitale, 76, pleaded guilty last September to two counts of possession of sexually explicit digital images of children.
Vitale’s medical licence was suspended in February 2016 after he was arrested and was revoked last fall after he pleaded guilty.
He was sentenced Wednesday in Halifax provincial court by Judge Michael Sherar, who accepted a joint recommendation from lawyers for 5.5 months in jail on each charge, for a total of 11 months.
Vitale will be on probation for two years after he gets out of jail, with a condition prohibiting him from working or volunteering in any position that would place him in authority over anyone under the age of 18. He also cannot have contact with anyone under the age of 16 unless a parent or guardian is present.
In addition, the judge ordered Vitale to provide a DNA sample for a national databank and granted forfeiture of any devices that were found to contain child pornography, including computers, hard drives and compact disks.
Vitale, a citizen of the United States who has lived in Canada for 38 years, could have faced deportation if either of Wednesday’s sentences had been six months or longer.
The judge said reference letters filed by the defence show Vitale has served his patients well over the years.
“But that doesn’t blot out what he has done here,” Sherar said, referring to the offences.
“There may be reasons why he did what he did. But regardless, he did what he did.”
The offences were committed in Halifax between January 2013 and December 2014.
An agreed statement of facts says 99.9 per cent of the child pornography found in Vitale’s possession was Japanese animation, but investigators also discovered many photographs of real children being sexually abused.
Crown attorney Perry Borden displayed examples of the illicit material on a monitor visible to the entire courtroom. Some of the children being abused in the photos appeared to be as young as two or three.
“Often, individuals charged with child pornography say ‘It’s just me in my house, I’m not really doing anything,’” Borden said.
“But there are real, live victims associated with child pornography. If you are engaged in the downloading, accessing and possessing (of child pornography), you are essentially fuelling the market.”
Borden said the “carnage” continues with animated images of child pornography, which he said people often use to groom children for sexual abuse.
The prosecutor said he and defence lawyer Stan MacDonald spent a long time coming up with an appropriate sentencing recommendation.
“This is a disposition that I struggled with for many months, if not years,” Borden said.
MacDonald told the court his client was a computer addict and has also been diagnosed with hoarding disorder, which he said explains the mass downloads of material found on Vitale’s devices.
He also said Vitale also learned recently he has a lesion on his brain.
“It is clear from medical evidence that that lesion is something that may have interfered with his judgment and memory,” MacDonald said.
A forensic psychologist who examined Vitale said the elderly man poses a low risk of reoffending.
The statement of facts says Vitale never even viewed much of the illegal material and tried to delete any images of real children that he clicked on.
MacDonald stressed that the agreed facts say Vitale did not advocate or counsel sexual activity with a minor, did not purchase child pornography on the internet, did not produce child porn and did not communicate with any children for the purpose of possessing or accessing child porn.
“Of extremely important significance to Dr. Vitale is that no images were found in his medical office, and no images were found on any computer systems in his medical office,” the defence lawyer said.
“And at no point in time is it alleged that Dr. Vitale ever inappropriately touched a child. … There has never been a single complaint by any patient of Dr. Vitale, or parent of any patient, of any inappropriate sexual behaviour towards a child.”
MacDonald said Vitale has distinguished himself in his studies and his practice as a primary-care physician for children and adults. He said this incident has cost Vitale his career and his freedom and has taken a “tremendous toll” on his family.
The judge said Vitale had in his possession “considerable amounts” of child pornography, some of which depicted “very, very young children.”
“By his collection of these items, Mr. Vitale became a participant in the worldwide sexual exploitation of children,” Sherar said.
The Crown wants Vitale to have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, but the defence says such an order would be unconstitutional. Lawyers will return to court in two weeks to set a date for arguments on that issue.
https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/halifax/halifax-pediatrician-jailed-for-child-porn-after-judge-struggles-with-sentence-341424/?fbclid=IwAR2etiNbKTJoN_XrOT3ZfwvYRxhoZZ5-rqs5iswqcknzEvZIfz8qsCvlf6Y
