Sex-assault suspect denies child-porn charges
Donald Ashley MacPherson, 65, will return to court later this month to set trial dates
Editor’s note: The defendant in this court report and the journalist covering the case share the same first and last names, but they aren’t related or connected in any way.
A Noonan man awaiting trial on sex-assault allegations involving two minors denied related charges Tuesday of accessing and possessing child pornography.
Donald Ashley MacPherson, 65, formerly of Canada Street in Fredericton but now on Hughes Street in Noonan, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Tuesday with defence counsel Joshua Adams to answer to two criminal charges.
The defendant elected to be tried in provincial court and pleaded not guilty to counts of accessing child porn between Feb. 12 and April 16 and possessing it May 3.
Both charges, laid after an investigation by the RCMP’s internet child exploitation (ICE) unit, allege offences committed in Fredericton.
Judge Lucie Mathurin set the matter over to Nov. 22 for a case-management conference, during which a date will be set for trial.
Earlier this fall, MacPherson elected for a provincial court trial and pleaded not guilty to Fredericton Police Force charges involving two underage complainants.
He’s accused of sexually assaulting one child, touching her sexually and touching her sexually while in a position of trust or authority over her between Oct. 1, 2022, and Jan. 1.
The defendant faces the same three charges but in relation to a different minor, alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1 and March 1.
His trial on those charges is scheduled for Feb. 16 and 20.
The identities of the young complainants - now aged eight and 10 years old - are protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
In a news release issued last month on the day MacPherson was charged with the alleged child-porn offences, the RCMP said its ICE unit launched its investigation in February after receiving information from the RCMP's National Child Exploitation Crime Centre.
“On May 3, 2023, members of the RCMP ICE unit, RCMP digital forensic services and the Fredericton Police Force executed a search warrant at a home in Fredericton in connection with the investigation,” it said.
While the Fredericton Police Force laid its sex-assault charges first, both that case and the child-porn matter appear to have arisen after the same search.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.