A Prince Rupert man has been sentenced to 45 days in jail for viewing child pornography while at a friend's home in Prince George.
Jordan Richard Leask, 34, will serve the term intermittently on non-working days.
It's the minimum sentence possible for the offences of possessing and accessing child pornography.
Defence counsel Robert Mulligan had argued it was an isolated and brief incident committed at a time when Leask was abusing drugs and alcohol. Mulligan also noted that in the five years since then, Leask has matured and is now married, the father of three and employed.
Justice Lance Bernard agreed.
The case twice went to trial before a B.C. Supreme Court Justice at the Prince George courthouse. Leask had won a retrial because he was unable to properly hear the soft-spoken key witness during the first trial.
In the end, Bernard found Leask had downloaded 26 images over the night of July 15-16, 2008, using Limewire, a file-sharing software that is alleged to be a popular way to access child pornography, while on the friend's computer while she was asleep.
When the friend came across the images the next day, she told a friend who advised her to contact police.
Bernard described the images as "relatively benign" and that Leask's use of the images did not go beyond simple viewing.
Crown counsel had been seeking 90 days followed by three years probation.
