The Crown prosecutor is onto its last witness at a child pornography trial in Prince Albert.
In October of 2014, Aider Pratchett was an officer at Fond du Lac’s RCMP detachment when the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit started investigating flagged activity under Pratchett’s Internet Protocol address.
After a two-month suspension and ICE investigation, Pratchett was charged with possession and access of child pornography.
So far, all four witnesses have been ICE investigators. Much of the trial has covered complex technology, because the devices they seized from Pratchett’s home had mostly been encrypted.
On Thursday afternoon, Pratchett’s complex tech encryption was under analysis.
But one device discussed in court had files with what the Crown calls “the online fingerprint” matching files that have been marked as child pornography in their database. That fingerprint is technically called a “hash value,” and testimony has explained if a file has the same hash value as another, that means it contains the exact same content.
So far defence has not asked any questions in cross examination.
Defence’s case will begin calling its witnesses, if any, on Thursday. Pratchett’s trial began on Monday in Prince Albert.
Wednesday was the first day Pratchett’s wife has sat next to him in court.
To read Day 1 coverage, click here: Day 1.
To read Day 2 coverage, click here: Day 2.