Two computers seized from the home of Donnie Snook during a sex crime investigation will be turned over to a former tenant of Snook’s, but without their hard drives.
James Smith, who rented a room from Snook, told a court hearing in January that he owned two desktop computers that were seized in January 2013 during the investigation into sex crimes by the former Saint John city councillor.
Smith, who represented himself, told January’s forfeiture hearing in Saint John provincial court the computers contained a combined terabyte of “critical” data, including confidential client information, intellectual property and personal photos.
In a brief hearing on Monday, Smith and the Crown prosecutor came to an arrangement to give the computers in question to Smith.
The hard drives of the computers have been destroyed, but copies were made of software and documents of concern to Smith and were given to him along with the computers.
Snook was a Saint John city councillor in January 2013 when he was arrested and charged with sex crimes involving boys. He subsequently pleaded guilty to 46 charges involving 17 boys and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Snook, who resigned as a city councillor within weeks of his arrest, is appealing the sentence.
The forfeiture hearing involved 12 electronic devices, including a laptop, iPad and BlackBerry issued to Snook in his capacity as a Saint John city councillor.
The city released any claim to the devices, with its solicitor telling the court it wanted to avoid coming into possession of an item that probably contains child pornography.
Crown prosecutor Michel Bertrand said the Crown expects to make an application to the court soon regarding the disposition of Snook’s house and trailer, but is still assessing the worth of each against the amounts owing on them.
Source: cbc
