Bizarre and disturbing facts continue to come to light regarding former Common Councillor Donnie Snook's crimes against children.
The facts in the 46 counts against Snook include blackmail, coercion, and attempts to secretly spy on and film kids as young 5 and 6 in the nude.
Snook admitted posing online as a girl, getting nude pictures from boys, then blackmailing them to send more--to the degree that one victim even threatened commit suicide. Snook not only did not stop, but later contacted the victim's 7 year old brother to further harass him. The court also heard Snook--a non-drink--stocked his home with alcohol and allowed the children to drink and use drugs.
Numerous complaints were made against Snook by children and parents but no charges were laid.
The court will be hearing recommendations for sentencing on Friday. Victim impact statements will also will read, one of them by the victim himself and the results of a psychological profile will be heard.
A new round of layoffs at Radian 6 are not good news in a province where jobs are hard to come by.
Salesforce, the company's parent company, announcing it's cutting 200 jobs to its global workforce, more than 60 in New Brunswick.
Premier David Alward was asked about it while in the City and says the information was not confirmed for him.
NDP leader Dominic Cardy says the layoffs were yet another indication that the economic development ideas of the Alward government and the Liberal opposition need to be scrapped.
Meanwhile, the premier says significant accountability mechanisms are in place between the province and any company that has received payroll rebates and he has full confidence that the companies will live up to their responsibilities under the agreement.
Just over a year ago, Radian 6 received a $3.8-million payroll rebate offer to help create 300 full-time jobs in Fredericton and Saint John over five years.
As today's hearing continues we are hearing Donnie Snook devised elaborate games & tricks to have kids undress and film them without their knowledge.
One of the victim's behaviour became so out-of-control he was placed in foster care.
One child's mother alerted police to odd behaviour on Snook's part including taking kids out until wee hours and bringing them home drunk.
The court heard Snook bribed his victims with money, trips and alcohol and allowed them to take drugs in his presence.
Word spread among the kids that if you let Snook do certain things to you, you might get paid.
We are live tweeting from today's hearing and you can follow the tweet's on our website.
To find the link, click here
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, using the Right to Information Act, to make the claim that provincial government employees take 50 per cent more sick days than the rest of us......10.7 sick days a year compared to 7.1 in the private sector last year.
The Federation's Atlantic Director is Kevin Lacey who tells CHSJ News the sick days taken by just the core workers employed by the province costs about 14 million dollars.
The Federation also revealing unionised employees ran up 60 per cent more sick time per employee than the non-unionised workers.
As for federal government employees, Lacey says they're taking even more time off sick than their provincial counterparts.
A $50 million dollar investment in a retirement community in Saint John and the expansion of one for Fredericton resulting in 200 jobs for this province.
Premier Alward joining Jason and Joe Shannon of Shannex Inc for a sod-turning at their new site in Millidgeville behind the Charles Gorman arena.
Jason Shannon tells CHSJ News his father pioneered the concept of campus-style retirement living.
He says it's a response to community need adding they think offering the continuum of care is the way to go as lots of people can live independently longer in the campus concept.
Construction is underway now on Parkland Saint John which include 68-unit retirement living complex with a health and wellness pavilion along with a 60-bed licensed special care home and two licensed 18-bed specialized care bed homes.
Shannon tells us the facility is set to open in the summer/fall of 2015.
It has been a disturbing day in court as Crown Prosecutor Karen Lee Lamrock presented the facts of 46 child sex abuse charges again former common councillor Donnie Snook.
More than 14, 400 unique child sexual abuse images were found in Snook's possession along with more than 600 child porn vidoes--and only some victims have been identified. Former Friend Darrell Bastarache tells CHSJ News he expected to see more visible emotion from Snook as the court heard the evidence, stating that those in the gallery seem to be in more pain than Snook.
The court heard Snook bribed his victims with money, alcohol and trips--and claimed while he would stop sexual activity if his victims complained, some of them seemed to "enjoy" the abuse. Further, Snook admitted to having "groomed" at least one child over a period of 7 years from ages 9-14 to eventually take part in the abuse of other children. Many of the incidents are believed to have occurred when Snook's roommate was also at home, and the former church leader can be heard in the videos "shushing" the victims.
The sexual abuse images were found on a range of electronic media including a laptop, thumb drive and SD card. Some of the abuse videos were filmed with an iPad provided to Snook by the City of Saint John. The sentencing hearing resumes at 1:30.
We are now learning more about the evidence gathered against former Common Councillor Donnie Snook at his sentencing hearing on 46 charges of child abuse and exploitation.
The prosecution claims there are thousands of victims.
More than 14 thousand 400 unique child sexual abuse images were found in Snook's possession along with more than 600 videos of child pornography.
Videotaped webcam sessions and movies were also recovered.
There was some sadistic and fetish content but few and far between. Most of the images were of children posing alone.
Snook showed no emotion as all this was being shown.
Filling up will be costing you more after the weekly setting.
In the city, self serve regular has increased by a couple of cents a litre to $1.34.5 while diesel has risen to $1.37.
The maximum price for propane is $1.02.7, up by three cents a litre.
The maximum for heating oil is also more expensive at $1.19.8 a litre.
The Atlantic Convenience Stores Association claims the sale of Illegal tobacco remains a big problem in the province. That conclusion is based on a new study the Association commissioned.
Association President Mike Hammoud says a Montreal-based research firm collected more than 3,000 cigarette butts in June from 23 locations across the province including Sussex, Fredericton and Saint John.
The firm found, on average, 15.7 per cent of the butts were from contraband cigarettes.
In Grand Falls, more than 40 per cent of the butts were contraband and the rate was almost 20 per cent at 10 school sites.
