A little known subsection of the Criminal Code is in the spotlight this week, as a B.C. court prepares for a hearing on what, if any, conditions should be imposed on a British Columbia man who returned to Canada after serving a prison sentence for sexually abusing a boy in Thailand.
Christopher Neil, 37, is due back in a B.C. courtroom Wednesday, where a provincial court judge will consider the Crown’s request for conditions on his freedom based on Section 810.1 of the Criminal Code.
Under that provision -- used to apprehend Neil when he landed at Vancouver International Airport late Friday night -- police can take someone into custody based on their reasonable fear he or she may commit a sexual offence against someone under the age of 16.
Mounties said they invoked the little-used law because Neil had already served time for his overseas offence, but still represents a concern to the community.
Neil's lawyers are expected to apply for a publication ban on his hearing Wednesday, but CTV legal analyst Steven Skurka says the court could impose a broad range of conditions.
"He's served his sentence, he has no parole or probation restrictions on him, and yet, he could be subject to electronic monitoring, curfew, not being able to leave the province, the city or the country," Skurka told CTV's Canada AM Tuesday.
He could also be barred from having any contact with children, his access to the Internet could be restricted, and his name may be added to the National Sex Offender Registry.
Although the conditions appear punitive, Skurka says they are intended to control behaviour in the interest of preventing future harm.
Skurka said, even though as a society we can all agree children should be protected, the remains far from cut-and-dry.
Even though Neil can contest the Mounties' rationale, whatever happens in court he has now been brought to the public's attention as someone police believe poses a threat.
That leaves the question, Skruka said, of how to reintegrate him into mainstream society after being effectively branded by police with a "scarlet letter" as a risk to reoffend.
"We have to face that problem," Skurka said.
Neil was the subject of a massive international manhunt after a global warrant was issued in 2007, seeking his arrest for the alleged abuse of a dozen Vietnamese and Cambodian boys and posting hundreds of pictures of the abuse online. He became known as ‘Swirl Face’ because he could be seen in pictures with his face disguised in a digital swirl.
After German computer experts reversed the swirl and revealed his identity, he was arrested in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
The following year, he was sentenced to three years and three months in prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting two Thai boys, aged 13 and nine-years-old.
Neil's brother lives in Canada, but in an interview Sunday RCMP Cpl. Mat Van Laer of B.C.'s Child Exploitation Unit said it was unclear where Neil, a former resident of Maple Ridge, B.C., planned to reside after his release.
