Victim statement heard in child porn sentencing

A Toronto courtroom heard the wrenching victim impact statement of child-pornography victim Masha Allen on Tuesday during the sentencing hearing of a former flight attendant.

Andy Kwok pleaded guilty to simple possession of child pornography in November. One of the more than 1,900 images found on his computer by Toronto police was of Allen.

Allen, who waived her right to anonymity to testify before a U.S. congressional hearing in May 2006, had her victim impact statement submitted to the court yesterday.

The young girl, who wrote the statement when she was 13, was blunt in expressing her feelings.

"I want every single person who downloads my picture to go to jail and really be punished as much as possible," the statement read.

Allen was the subject of a search by the Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit. Investigators scanned pictures of the girl circulating on the Internet, looking for clues to her identity.

Toronto police were able to digitally remove Allen from the pictures, which were then released to the public, in the hopes that someone would recognize where they had been taken.

A pains-taking search pinpointed one image to the Walt Disney World Resort, leading Federal Bureau of Investigation officers in the U.S. to Allen adopted father, Matthew Mancuso.

He sexually abused the young girl for years and took photos which are still being exchanged on the Internet.

Allen's written statement was made available to North American police forces by her lawyer. The intention was to have it read during child pornography sentencing hearings where her image had been found.

"The absolute worse thing about everything that happened to me was that Matthew put my pictures on the Internet. He traded them with other people like baseball cards," Allen's statement read.

"What kind of people want to see pictures of a little girl being abused in this way?"

The young girl added that her "virtual abuse" will not end because the images are available online.

Prosecutor Mary Humphrey asked Justice Anne Molloy to give Kwok an 18-month jail term. Defence lawyer Jacob Stilman is looking for a conditional sentence for his client.

Final sentencing is expected to take place on Feb. 8.