B.C. man convicted of ‘horrific’ child sex crimes gets court-appointed lawyer to appeal sentence

The B.C. Court of Appeal and B.C. Supreme Court is pictured in Vancouver on Tuesday, May 25, 2021.

Warning: This story contains disturbing details.

A man seeking to challenge a 12-year sentence for what a judge described as the “horrific” and “disturbing” sexual abuse of a young girl will get the assistance of a court-appointed lawyer, according to a recently published decision.

In 2023, Preston Cory Dickins was found guilty of sexual assault, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, making child pornography and possessing child pornography. The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled on his application for a court-appointed lawyer Friday.

“The offences involved Mr. Dickins’ interaction with a child he was babysitting. He was found to have committed highly intrusive sexual abuse of the child, multiple times and over a considerable period,” the appeal court decision said, summarizing the crimes Dickins was convicted of.

“When arrested, Mr. Dickins possessed a mobile device containing 23 images (including a video) showing sexual interaction with the child. The device also included more than 3400 images of child exploitation involving other children.”

Dickins was asking the high court to appoint counsel to challenge both the guilty verdicts and the sentence imposed after a judge-alone trial.

He argued his convictions should be overturned on numerous grounds, including that it was a miscarriage of justice, that his Charter rights were violated, and that his lawyer was ineffective. According to the decision, Dickins’ appeal alleged he was not given adequate opportunity to present all the evidence that “backed up (his) claims” and could establish reasonable doubt about his guilt.

The appeal court’s decision summarized the crux of the defence Dickins mounted at trial.

“Mr. Dickins does not deny there was activity of a sexual nature involving the child. Indeed, that activity was captured in still photos and a video, and he has admitted taking some of the photos and making the video,” the appeal court decision said.

“His position at trial was that the child initiated the contact and what occurred with her was essentially beyond his control.”

The victim was between eight and ten years old when the abuse took place. This defence, according to the appeal decision, was bound to fail regardless of what evidence Dickins put forward.

“At law, he was the one responsible for preventing sexual contact with the child,” the decision said.

The appeal court found there was “no realistic possibility of success on the appeal from conviction” and declined to appoint a lawyer for this purpose.

Dickins was 30 years old when he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and had no criminal record. The nature of the abuse and the impact on the victim were considered aggravating when the sentence was handed down.

“The judge described the material on Mr. Dickins’ mobile device as showing ‘horrific acts of sexual violence.’ Mr. Dickins was in a position of trust when he offended. The judge found that he committed ‘hundreds of acts of sexual violence on [the child] over a one-and-a-half-year period,’” the appeal decision said, describing the lower court’s decision.

“The offences were ‘significantly and negatively impacting’ on (the victim), ‘even years later, and will likely continue to do so for some period of time.’ She was ‘subjected to extensive intrusions to her bodily integrity;’ the ‘acts of violence were often painful;’ and the sexual abuse included ‘disturbing acts of degradation.’”

On appeal, Dickins argued there were mitigating factors that were not properly considered – specifically, his willingness to plead guilty on the child pornography charges and background information and reference letters that were relevant but not put before the court.

“There is some indication, at least at this stage, that one or more choices made at the trial on the advice of counsel may have deprived Mr. Dickins of mitigation at sentencing that arguably could have affected the sentence,” the appeal court decision said, adding that Crown did not disagree on this point.

A court-appointed lawyer will assist Dickins in putting forward the sentence appeal, despite the appeal court noting the case is “not strong.”