A Nanaimo man who was said to have more than 200,000 images and video of child pornography and who recorded video of children while on buses is waiting to find out his sentence.
Aaron Macrae, 35, was charged with counts of possession of, making or publishing and importing or distributing child pornography for incidents that took place between Jan. 1, 2015 and April 25, 2018. Macrae pleaded guilty to charges of possession and importing and distributing on April 16 and saw his sentencing hearing begin today at provincial court in Nanaimo in front of Judge Ronald Lamperson. Nick Barber, Crown counsel, seeks a jail sentence of three years.
The hearing did not conclude by end of day Thursday and a continuation date is expected to be set on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Macrae came to the attention of the B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit in April 2018 due to an image uploaded to Instagram, according to Barber. A warrant was executed in June 2018 and 13 devices were seized.
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On top of the excessive amount of items of child pornography, which included a video with a toddler, Barber said Macrae displayed voyeuristic behaviour when he video-recorded girls in malls, on buses and through online chat. Macrae also video recorded the children of customers through his job at a cellphone shop, said Barber.
Macrae fled the Island after the search warrant was completed, but was arrested in November 2018 in Abbotsford. Barber said reports indicate Macrae has been actively seeking child porn for about 10-20 years.
Macrae was represented by Martin Screech, who will make submissions at the next court date.
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