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Defense calls sex assault suspect Trevor Pritchard’s father to testify

Nov 21, 2018 | 3:28 PM

LETHBRIDGE – As the Crown wrapped up its case against 35-year-old Trevor Pritchard Wednesday morning (Nov.21) by calling Det. Leigh Happner to testify, the Defense also began presenting its side Thursday afternoon.

The morning began with the continuation of testimony from the 19-year-Calgary Police Force Veteran about the business records from Facebook accounts associated with Trevor Pritchard and Phillip Fieldcamper.

Happner presented two reports including a PowerPoint presentation and a summary of the content of 4,000 pages she received. Her job she testified, was to look for subscription information, IP logs, chats and their content and who other users potentially related to the Pritchard and Fieldcamper could be.

Happner testified that the person using the Phillip Fieldcamper account identified his age several times to users as either 25, 21, 19 or 16. In several cases the users identified themselves as either 14 or 16- years old. A photo of an unknown teenage male was also sent to four separate users from the Philip Fieldcamper account.

On several occasions, the same graphic paragraph describing sexual activity was sent to several users, along with requests for naked pictures, requests to meet with them, bra size and body shape. Messages sent from the Fieldcamper account to at least one user described the person as “I’m just that one guy who listens to women.” On another occasion, a message from the same account was sent asking “who is the easiest, sluttiest girl you know?”

Upon cross examination, Defense Counsel William Wister argued that there was no way to prove that either the Trevor Pritchard Facebook account or the Phillip Fieldcamper account were those belonging to Trevor Pritchard.

Wister asked whether the accounts had been verified by telephone numbers and a subsequent security code or if there was any way to verify the accounts. Det. Happner told the defense, there was not. However, she also told the court that it did not cause her concern.

Questions were also raised regarding whether pictures of two males in different backgrounds were actually Trevor Pritchard and not someone with a dark beard and a hat, and whether IP addresses were verified to see whether they were Wi-Fi addresses and whether those Wi-Fi addresses were in fact, secure. Happner said they had not been verified.

During the afternoon, Wister called 70-year-old Philip Morley Pritchard to the stand. He testified his son was diagnosed with brain damage at the age of 19, after suffering a lack of oxygen several times.

He also testified that between Sept. 15, 2016 and January 17-18, 2017, his son lived in Coaldale and that he visited the home two to three times a week, mainly during the daytime. He was asked whether he could identify his son’s cell phone and lap top, and answered that he didn’t know much about electronics, however items he was shown appeared to belong to his son. He also testified that a computer Trevor used was given to him by his father, but that attempts at accessing the internet had previously failed. He was not aware of the computer’s brand name, or that of his son’s cell phone. The father also testified that he was not aware of his son’s possible Facebook accounts nor other online information. 

Under cross examination by Crown Counsel Donna Spanner, Trevor’s father was asked whether he ever entered any passwords on his son’s telephone to which he answered he did not. He was also asked whether he tried connecting his son’s computer to the internet at his new home and told the court he did not; neither did he use or connect to any Facebook account by the name of Philip Fieldcamper.

Wister told the court in the coming days he expects to call another internet expert, and that he does expect Trevor Pritchard to testify in his own defense. 

Pritchard is charged with sexual assault, possession of child pornography and child luring in relation to at least two girls under the age of 16.