A trial that was scheduled to start Monday morning for an Abbotsford man charged with several child porn offences has been adjourned.
Speaking in B.C. Supreme Court in Chilliwack, Crown counsel Sylvia Domaradzki told the judge that a police officer who is a key witness in the case broke his shoulder in a car accident over the weekend.
The officer was due to testify next Monday, but is unable to do so while he recuperates.
The judge said she did not want the trial to begin this week and then have to continue at a later date once the officer is able to testify.
“I’m not starting a trial that will end in a continuation,” she said.
A new date has not yet been scheduled.
The accused’s name is banned from publication in order to protect the identities of the alleged victims.
The man, now 60, was charged in May 2011 with making pornographic videos involving two children under the age of 10.
Police at the time would not reveal how the man knew the alleged victims, who both live in Abbotsford, or their sexes or exact ages.
The man was allegedly brought to the attention of the Abbotsford Police by U.S. authorities, who discovered that another man was allegedly in possession of two child porn videos that appeared to originate from Abbotsford.
The videos were then traced to an Abbotsford home.
The accused has been charged with seven offences – making child pornography, importing or distributing child porn, compelling bestiality, possession of child porn, invitation to sexual touching, and two counts of sexual interference.
He is out on bail while awaiting trial.
