Sask. RCMP investigator gives testimony at trial in Philippines
Case in that country has ties to man convicted in Saskatoon
Cpl. Jared Clarke is used to presenting evidence of online child exploitation crimes in large courthouses containing several rooms.
Last week, he testified for four hours in a tiny room on Leyte Island, Philippines.
The Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit officer was a key witness at the trial of a Filipino woman charged with human trafficking, accused of live streaming the sexual abuse of her children for money.
She was being paid by Philip Michael Chicoine, a Saskatoon man sentenced in November to 12 years in prison for directing the sexual abuse between 2011 and 2017. The Crown is appealing, arguing for a longer sentence.
The woman is on trial along with her husband, who was arrested two days before Clarke testified.
She was one of the main suspects in the Chicoine investigation, but she isn’t charged in direct relation to it: in the court’s eyes, the entire crime must be committed in the Philippines for the offence to have taken place, Clarke said.
However, local police did lay human trafficking charges after the woman offered her kids up for abuse during an undercover sting. Clarke said his job was to show the woman’s pattern of offending behaviour and explain why the investigation began.
The court process was unique but cumbersome, he said.
Digital evidence was shown on a projector, but every photo and online conversation had to be printed out on paper to be accepted. The trial — which Clarke said is the first of its kind in the region — will run sporadically over two months.
“Hopefully we get all the evidence in and the judge can make his best decision, but the main thing is all of the children that were being abused aren’t anymore,” he said.
Clarke said the highlight of his trip was visiting those nine children, now living at a rescue shelter.
Shy at first, the kids lit up at the mention of a beloved local fast food restaurant, he said. He and another officer brought the kids their favourite treats the next day.
“(It) brings some closure to the case. Obviously it’s not finished in court, but a very rare and rewarding experience just seeing the good that’s been done from this work,” he said. “It was a nice reminder of why we do what we do.”
Clarke said it sends an important message that people who collude with foreigners to commit online child sex crimes are held accountable, he added.
The mandatory sentence for human trafficking in the Philippines is life imprisonment.