A 44-year-old Whitehorse man received an 11-month jail sentence and three year's probation in territorial court earlier this month after he was convicted of possession of child pornography.

The man cannot be identified due to a court-ordered publication ban.

Noel Sinclair appeared as Crown counsel and Andre Roothman represented the defence in the case.

The man was arrested and charged on Oct. 18, 2007, after images of naked girls involved in sex acts were accidentally discovered on his laptop computer.

The images were reported and the RCMP subsequently obtained and exercised a search warrant on the man's residence.

Police found a locked cabinet containing more than 100 compact discs bearing titles such as "Etnymphs," "Little virgins," "Lolita fix," "Ukrainian angels" and "Lolita love."

There were also at least 1,000 images or movies on his computer with similar titles.

A written decision from Judge Heino Lilles says "the content of the compact discs and laptop included images that ranged from artistic photos to sex acts with other children, sex acts with adults, rape and bestiality.

The children appeared to be between three and 15 years of age."

Lilles noted that the man had an "unexceptional" childhood and did not suffer from any major trauma or abuse.

The man has completed three years of a four-year journeyman electrical course and has used his skills in both the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

The man's current employer describes him as an "excellent worker," says the court document.

The court document notes that the man has had "three significant relationships with females," the last one ending approximately three years ago.

The man has not sought out any other relationships since, says the document, stating that he is "'extremely gun shy and I don't want to have anything to do with women.'"

The court document says the man has been using marijuana regularly for the last five years because it provides relief from arthritis.

He has also admitted to using "lots of drugs" in his youth, says the document.

The document also states that the man "minimizes the seriousness of what he has done and does not understand the concerns underlying his offence.

"(The man) is clearly addicted to child pornography, spending up to nine hours at a time searching for and downloading from the Internet," it reads.

The man justifies his actions by saying that "since he was paying for the Internet, he was merely getting his money's worth," says the document.

The man also puts collecting child pornography "in the same category as collecting and downloading free music and movies."

The court document says the man "does not understand that all children in the digital photos and movies he collected are the victims of his crime."

Lilles identified the man's use of alcohol and marijuana, the large amount of pornographic material collected over a lengthy period of time, the seriousness of the contents, and the man's "inability to appreciate that the children in the digital images are the victims" as aggravating factors.

Lilles identified the man's early guilty plea as a mitigating factor and as such, imposed an 11-month jail sentence instead of the 12-month sentence the Crown sought.

The terms of the man's probation include orders to have no contact with persons under the age of 18 years or to possess any computer, computer software, or any other devices capable of downloading illegal material.