Joseph Sproull exits King's Bench Court in Battleford after a day of testimony.  (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Court proceedings

Accused takes the stand at child porn trial

Oct 31, 2024 | 2:48 PM

Editor’s note: the following story contains graphic details that may be triggering to some readers.

A man facing 11 charges related to sexual assault and child pornography is maintaining his innocence, claiming there is no possibility he was part of a graphic image showing a toddler being exposed to a sexualized position involving physical touching.

In the third day of the trial at Court of King’s Bench in Battleford, 43-year-old Joseph Sproull took the stand in his own defense. The charges he faces include three counts of sexual assault along with counts of possession and distribution of child pornography.

Court heard testimony from both Sproull and retired Detective Sergeant Lindsey Wall, who was part of the forensic computer investigations regarding photo data and device caches that stored information.

Sproull spoke of being born and raised in Marshall, SK. He spent most of his life in the childhood home where he and his wife of 21 years lived with their teenage niece. Sproull’s wife ran a daycare out of the home where the alleged offences occurred between August 2020 to March of 2021. Sproull also worked as a handi-van driver. and as a janitor.

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As per testimony heard on Wednesday, eight to 10 children between the ages of 18 months to 12 years attended the daycare. Sproull’s role with his wife’s business was mainly administrative along with helping to prepare meals for the children.

As the testimony continued, the line of questioning moved on to the number of computers and phones Sproull had in his possession and what apps were on his phones. There were four computers – two of which were for gaming and five cellphones – of which one was defunct, one was personal and three were for work.

When asked if he visited certain websites, Sproull said there were a few, including PornHub that he used on a daily basis. Of the apps, the defendant listed off Facebook, a banking app, games and Kik – which he said he was introduced to by friends.

“They used it to extend their personal sexual proclivities,” he said, explaining that he and his wife were part of the swinging and partner swapping community.

“We would meet with other couples and groups for sexual activities.”

Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle asked if he had ever used the app for exchanging adult pornography, to which Sproull replied yes.

“We would join certain groups of like-minded individuals that wanted to share each other’s sexual experiences,” said Sproull.

When asked if any child abuse images or child pornography was made or shared on Kik, he said no, it had not been.

Some evidence is laid out on the table. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

In fact, the Kik messaging app is known by police as being popular among sexual predators. According to Wall, who was tasked as the lead forensic technician after receiving a request from the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation Unit (ICE), the IP addresses in evidence that had uploaded or downloaded the offending pornography originated from Sproull’s home router.

Throughout the investigation, which received support from the Victim Identifications Unit in Ottawa, another app called Mega – a file storage platform – was also discovered on one of Sproull’s devices. This particular app, Wall testified, was popular with users who were aware of its reputation for a “don’t ask, don’t tell” reporting policy. The company is based in New Zealand and unlike US-based companies like Facebook, Microsoft or Google which are required by law to report any instances of child pornography, different laws govern Mega Limited.

“At that time, we were dealing with that platform a lot,” said Wall, adding the police had several investigations that involved Mega.

“We were seeing a lot of our child pornography cases – the files were being stored on that [platform].”

As an explanation as to how the photos ended up on his device, Sproull speculated he clicked on a link from Mega, and said his phone started acting in a manner it shouldn’t be, namely apps in the wrong location, uploaded images and receiving text messages.

“From what I can recall, I opened it up to view what was happening,” he said, explaining he was initially afraid his banking information was being stolen.

Sproull said he then disconnected his phone from the internet, took out the SIM card and then went through the phone. He found explicit thumbnails of child pornography.

“Adults severely abusing infants.”

In his earlier testimony, however, Wall disputed this version of what happened as he found no hacking or viruses detected. When asked by crown prosecutor Andrew Clement if this scenario was possible, Wall said, “It’s contrary to my experience and my training.”

During the trial, there was a discussion about hash values – which essentially act as fingerprints for files. If those files are engaged by someone, they are given new hash values.

Wall said there is a database of known child pornographic images and video and each one has a hash value. The files on Sproull’s device were found in the phone’s cache and Wall said for them to be there, he had to physically engage with the files like clicking on them, thus having knowledge and control.

Pfefferle argued Sproull’s phones were not password protected and had Wall confirm that apps will periodically update and if a user has given remote access to a third party, there could be things happening on the device without the owner’s input.

The investigation uncovered 488 explicit photos including those involving physical contact between adult genitalia and very young children in rooms of Sproull’s home. Of those photos, Sproull stated unequivocally that it was not him in the photos as there were discrepancies of physical attributes including a scar. However, it was pointed out that the photos may not show the scarring due to the angle of the shot.

Re-capping the chain of events that led Sproull to King’s Bench court, Clements spoke of the IP address in evidence being the same IP that is on Sproull’s Kik account which was used consistently ‘day after day after day.’ He said Sproull’s phone had child porn on it dating back to August 2020 and some of the photos contain images of things in Sproull’s home including a change table and flooring.

“Given all of that Mr. Sproull and your lack of explanation as to those occurrences, I suggest to you that it is in fact you who committed the abuse on those children and you were aware of the child pornography on your phone,” said Clements.

“Are you asking a question?”

Clements asked whether Sproull agreed with the statement.

He simply replied, “I do not.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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