WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.
A former teacher and counsellor who worked with vulnerable youth in Winnipeg has been sentenced to 33 months in prison after police discovered an enormous collection of what a judge called “horrific” child pornography during a search of his home last year.
Alan Veness was sentenced July 11 after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography. A July 2023 search turned up more than 4,500 images and more than 20 videos across his computer, phone and USB drives.
Much of that material contained what Crown attorney Sivananthan Sivarouban described as “very violent, violent imagery” involving children ranging in age from babies to teenagers.
Some of the images involved bestiality, bondage and other “sadistic sexual acts.” In one case, an image had text below it with the name of a dark web site dedicated to child pornography, court heard.
Police said at the time of Veness’s arrest, he had been a teacher in school divisions in Winnipeg and Manitoba for 15 years, which included work as a substitute teacher. At his sentencing, court heard he’d worked as a counsellor for vulnerable youth at the Manitoba Youth Centre in Winnipeg.
Provincial court Judge Victoria Cornick said while there was no suggestion Veness abused the children he worked with, “there is an appreciation for how children act, behave, develop that is unique to teachers and to individuals who work at the Manitoba Youth Centre,” and it concerned her that Veness was able to disconnect from that enough to view the materials police found.
“I don’t think you need to be specially trained in youth counselling or education to appreciate that this is extremely disturbing imagery, that this is very clearly affecting this child,” Cornick said.
“Any adult person looking at that would have to know and understand that this is beyond reprehensible behaviour.”
Given warning in 2009
The events that led to Veness’s arrest began in December 2022, when child pornography was uploaded on a Microsoft Bing image search, court heard. The company tipped off police in the United States, who notified Canadian authorities. Winnipeg police then traced the internet protocol, or IP, address used to Veness’s home in the city’s Seven Oaks area, which they later searched.
Court heard it wasn’t the first time police had found those kinds of materials on Veness’s computer — but he was previously let off with a warning.
That happened in 2009, after Veness’s computer was taken in for repair and child pornography was found in its trash. When police talked to him, he said he’d accidentally downloaded the material while searching for adult pornography and immediately deleted it, court heard.
Monique St. Germain, general counsel for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, said though it’s hard to know if that response was appropriate without knowing all the details of what happened, it’s generally not surprising to hear a warning would have been the response in 2009, when there were fewer child pornography cases and the legal and policing landscape related to it was much different.
“We’d like to think that, you know, if a similar situation were to arise in 2024, there might be a very different response,” St. Germain said.
Prosecutor Sivarouban called Veness’s moral blameworthiness for the offence “astonishingly high,” given his education degree and extensive experience working with kids.
“The accused is somebody who is collecting images of children being sexually abused. There are children actively suffering in these videos, they are actively being hurt and tortured,” Sivarouban said. “He’s getting sexual pleasure from that.”
Caught in addiction: offender
Jeffrey Gindin, Veness’s lawyer, described his client as an addict who has struggled to get the treatment he needs. He noted Veness wasn’t responsible for creating or distributing the images he had in his possession, and that he’s since been going to therapy and Sex Addicts Anonymous.
“It’s true that years ago the police gave him a warning, he was not charged, but he took heed from the warning and tried to do something about it. [It] didn’t work, and this is what happens with addicts — doesn’t always work the first time. You have to try again, and that’s what he’s done,” Gindin said.
“Sometimes it takes something like a wake-up call when you’re charged and arrested that you say to yourself, ‘I better do something about this.'”
Court heard 13 impact statements related to the victims who investigators were able to identify through what’s known as hash-matching technology — a process St. Germain said the Canadian Centre for Child Protection is directly involved in. That technology, which she said could be compared to DNA, is used to check newly found child pornography materials against those discovered in previous cases where the victims have already been identified.
The impact statements heard in court detailed the longstanding and devastating impact victims suffered from having their images accessed online. Several victims described living in fear someone might recognize them.
Veness expressed remorse when given the chance to speak in court.
“As caught up as I was in my addiction, I gave little thought to its victims. But I think about them now, and words cannot express how much I regret my actions,” said Veness, who was 60 years old at the time of his sentencing.
“Those victim impact statements certainly had an impact on me, and I’m grateful for them, because as I go forward, you know — I will struggle with this addiction my whole life, but I’m determined that I will never fall into this again.”
Court heard Veness has no criminal record and was assessed as a low risk to reoffend. On top of his jointly recommended 33-month sentence, he was ordered to submit a DNA sample and register as a sex offender for 20 years.
He was also given a number of other conditions for a period after his release, including not working in a position of authority with kids under 16, not accessing pornography online and not using any passwords or encryption software on his devices.
A second count of accessing child pornography against Veness was stayed earlier this year, court records show.
For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. �If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.