Saying his court case was fought for the "freedom of Canadians," child pornographer John Robin Sharpe was swaggering and defiant after a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that his sex stories involving children have artistic merit and aren't criminal.
The decision, which child advocates say will encourage pedophiles to abuse children, was the latest ruling in a seesaw court battle involving the B.C. courts and the Supreme Court of Canada over whether Mr. Sharpe's widely vilified poems and stories are crimes or art.
Mr. Justice Duncan Shaw of the B.C. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Mr. Sharpe's story collections, contained in Sam Paloc's Boyabuse: Flogging, Fun and Fortitude -- A Collection of Kiddiekink Classics and Stand by America, 1953, are morally repugnant but have some literary merit, even likening them to the works of the Marquis de Sade.
The stories include tales of men having sex with boys aged 12 and younger, boys having sex with each other, children being flogged, torture, capture and confinement of boys, and painful circumcision.
"In my opinion, Boyabuse and Stand by America, 1953 have some artistic merit," Judge Shaw said in a 48-page ruling released yesterday.
Judge Shaw found Mr. Sharpe not guilty of two child pornography charges related to the writings, but convicted the 67-year-old retired city planner on two other counts of possession of child pornography related to hundreds of photographs seized at the Canada-U.S. border and at his Vancouver apartment after a trip abroad in 1995.
Yesterday's ruling does not strike down the child-pornography law. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled previously that material can be allowable if it has artistic merit.
Children's rights advocates were appalled by the decision, saying the ruling legitimizes sexual violence against children and will encourage pedophiles to write and distribute material that encourages sexual exploitation of children.
Annabel Webb, of Justice for Girls, said Mr. Sharpe's stories are dangerous to children.
There is no doubt in my mind that if the public sat down with the material that Mr. Sharpe produced, that most people would be horrified and disgusted," Ms. Webb told reporters outside court. "What's happened is that it's become an abstract debate about literary merit and artistic merit."
She urged Canadians to lobby federal lawmakers to toughen child pornography laws.
Lawmakers say it's too early to determine what impact the ruling will have on the prosecution of child pornography in Canada. B.C. Attorney-General spokesman Geoffrey Gaul said other cases are going ahead.
"It is still a crime to possess child pornography," Mr. Gaul said after the verdict.
B.C. Attorney-General Geoff Plant said government lawyers must read the decision before deciding whether to appeal.
Mr. Sharpe, who has said he sometimes feels like the "most hated man in Canada," vowed to continue writing.
Clad in a navy suit and white turtleneck, Mr. Sharpe strode into a pack of reporters, refusing to apologize for his literary pursuits and his life-long interest in man-boy sex.
Mr. Sharpe said he waged the public battle because Canada's child pornography laws limit freedom of expression.
"I look at it as something I have done for my fellow Canadians, okay? I want to make this a better and freer country, okay?"
In his ruling, Judge Shaw rejected the Crown submission that Mr. Sharpe's writings encouraged pedophiles to commit crimes against children.
If that were the case, the judge said, then literature describing murder, robbery, theft, rape, drug use and other crimes could be said to advocate the commission of crimes.
"While Boyabuse and Stand by America, 1953 arguably glorify the acts described therein, in my opinion they do not go so far as to actively promote their commission."
Mr. Sharpe is to be sentenced May 2.