‘She’s a beautiful girl:’ Nanaimo engineer secretly aimed camera at nude 13-year-old

While outlining the facts, the Crown’s Leanne Mascolo said members of the Gale family and the unnamed victim were in the hot tub on his Cedar acreage prior to the offence.

Everybody except the offender went inside the home, while Gale remained outside on the exterior deck hanging towels at about 10 p.m.

Gale, knowing full well the girl’s age and a nearby shower inside the home had just turned off, reached above his head to a partially open window with the shower head placed beneath it.

Gale then took a series of pictures in succession until his crime of opportunity was abruptly called out.

“Hey!” the victim responded, upon seeing a phone with its recognizable black case pointed toward her.

Gale went inside and immediately admitted responsibility as his wife consoled the distraught victim.

Shortly after being violated she connected with her mother, however due to the late hour there was nowhere else for her to go.

At the insistence of the offender, Gale and his wife took the girl home the next morning where he took responsibility for his actions in person to the girl’s parents and asked for forgiveness.

Both families were connected through their involvement with the Christian faith, court was told, with Gale belonging to a non-denominational Christian group on the central Island.

Upon his arrest days later, Gale told police he immediately deleted the pictures after being caught by the girl.

Mascolo stated the erased pictures could not be retrieved by police and further extraction efforts would take a lengthy period of time and were not deemed an investigative priority since Gale admitted responsibility.

Based on the offender’s account, no actual photos of the victim were captured due to the insect screen.

Gale’s police interview
About a week after the incident the Nanaimo RCMP, armed with a search warrant, arrested Gale at his home in front of his wife and three kids.

A cooperative Gale provided passwords to several devices, which were seized by police. No incriminating material was found during the police probe of the Gale property.

He was transported to the police detachment where he was promptly upfront about his transgressions.

Saying he had nothing to hide, Gale insisted he didn’t have a sexual preference for children, reiterating he knew the victim was 13-years-old.

“He did tell the officer she’s well developed, has a large chest and a fine physique and she’s a beautiful girl,” Mascolo told the court.

Judge Ron Lamperson took particular interest in the statement.

After hearing the shower turn off, Gale told the investigator when he noticed the normally closed window was open he succumbed to his temptations.

“Mr. Gale also told police that he can’t explain what possessed him in this moment, and he described it as a knee-jerk reaction.”

Mascolo said Gale repeated his observation the victim was a well-developed young woman and her age didn’t match her physical appearance.

Sentencing arguments
The Crown pushed for a 60 to 90-day jail sentence, with Mascolo telling court she strongly opposed a discharge, opening the door for Gale’s record to be wiped clean.

Mascolo said she wasn’t aware of other examples where a child victimized in a similar manner resulted in a discharge.

“The general deterrence in this case, given a 13-year-old girl in a very vulnerable position and an expectation where she would be protected — the court needs, in the Crown’s submission, to send a strong message,” Mascolo said.

The defence’s conditional discharge request, ultimately granted, honed in on the unique circumstances of an accomplished engineer with a Ph.D. and no prior involvements with police.

Attorney Dale Marshall said his client admitted responsibility early on and took the proactive steps for ongoing clinical counseling sessions and a forensic psychiatrist’s assessment.

Gale, whose had no breaches while released on bail, was determined to be a low risk to re-offend in the foreseeable future.

“This is a man with a lifetime of education, gainful employment and volunteering for the community through his church. He and his family like to travel…a criminal conviction can cause problems to impede travel, particularly to the United States,’ Marshall said.

Stating Gale runs two companies, which includes contracts with all levels of government, Marshall said his client is the sole income source for his family and any jail time would cause cascading negative impacts.

In response to Gale’s comments to police indicating the victim looks more mature than her age dictated, Marshall said the statement was in response to a question of whether Gale is attracted to children.

“In his stress and clumsiness and forthright cooperation with police, he expressed to them that ‘well she’s a very mature young girl’ and was putting into context to the question whether he had any fantasies about children,” Marshall said.

Visibly confused by the explanation, judge Lamperson wondered if Gale would not have targeted the victim if her appearance were more childlike.

“It would be impossible to answer that question because as he said to police very candidly ‘I can’t explain my actions.'”

Marshall said his client has dealt with severe collateral damage, including no church gatherings at his home for the past 16 months and temporary restrictions to be around his children until he was cleared by social workers.

Numerous character reference letters were submitted to the court for Gale, whose community involvement included serving as a member of the Colliery Dam Preservation Society.

Victim impact
While the victim and her family opted not to attend the sentencing hearing, the young girl’s mother submitted a powerful letter to the court.

She said immediately following the incident her daughter had a sudden lack of trust, feared sleeping, had a distrust of public washrooms, and was cautious around adults, particularly men.

Counseling sessions helped her daughter move on, her mother wrote.

“I myself have suffered anxiety and fear of being judged by our church members for being a whistleblower for going to the police when a crime was committed against our child by a member of our church.”

The mother is angry, sad, and riddled with anxiety for trusting the offender’s family with her daughter’s safety.

She hopes Gale gets professional help so he never exploits another child again.

Judgment
Judge Lamperson said deciding on Gale’s punishment was a “close call” and difficult decision to make.

He emphasized the considerable mitigating factors in Gale’s favour, including promptly accepting responsibility, pleading guilty to ensure the victim wouldn’t have to testify, and the ramifications a criminal conviction would have on the offender and his family’s life.

“Those who work with the federal government, even on a contract basis, are likely usually obliged to have criminal record checks,” Lamperson said.

The judge believed a carefully crafted probation order with several conditions adequately satisfies the public’s interest.

An order of 100 hours of community service also applies against Gale, while he also agreed to an elevated $3,000 victim fine surcharge.

A visibly distraught Gale attended the hearing alongside his wife.

He didn’t provide a statement to the court, nor was he willing to answer questions from NanaimoNewsNOW.

Gale had also faced a charge of publishing child pornography, which was tossed out at the start of Wednesday’s hearing.

— with files from Jordan Davidson

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes

by Ian Holmes

‘She’s a beautiful girl:’ Nanaimo engineer secretly aimed camera at nude 13-year-old

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