Photo: Terry Krock leaves the Kelowna courthouse in November 2019 following his guilty plea.

A man who pleaded guilty last year to possessing child pornography appeared in Kelowna courts Tuesday for the start of a sentencing hearing. 

In November 2019, Terry Krock, 54, pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in a charge which was originally dated January 2010 to June 2017.

However, new evidence presented to counsel Tuesday morning suggested the downloading of child sexual exploitation videos onto a hard drive may have occurred as early as Aug. 11, 2008. 

Clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Anton Schweighofer appeared via video conference on Tuesday for the examination and cross-examination of his psychologist risk assessment, which deemed Krock a 'low-risk' offender. 

Schweighofer interviewed Krock for four and a half hours on Dec. 6, 2019 - one month after Krock pleaded guilty in court - and told the court Krock displayed "a lack of insight into his own motivations for offending."

When asked during the interview why he downloaded the child porn, Krock answered Schweighofer with the statement: "It was different. I like having carrots and then boiled eggs. I don't know why." 

On another occasion during that interview, Krock compared his engagement in both adult and child pornography to the mundane act of switching channels.

"For me, it was not just child, but all porn, to pass time ... like switching channels." 

Crown counsel Dan Blumenkrans argued that likening demonstrated a lack of insight into the seriousness of child pornography, which Schweighofer acknowledged was a "plausible explanation." 

The court heard from Schweighofer that Krock had a difficult childhood, suffering the early loss of his mother and being left with an emotionally abusive stepfather, later joined by an emotionally abusive stepmother.

As a result of this, he says Krock began to retreat into a solitary lifestyle at a very young age, and later began to exhibit hoarding behaviour and difficulty in self-management. 

The report also found Krock meets the criteria for "an indication of pedophilic or hebephilic interest."

Pedophilia refers to an ongoing sexual interest in children who are of pre-pubescent age, whereas the term hebepilia refers to individuals with an ongoing sexual interest in pubescent children or those who are in early adolescence. 

During the defence examination, counsel Brian Fitzpatrick made a strong connection between the presence of avoidance personality traits and another significant finding in Schweighofer's report — the classification of Krock as a fantasy-motivated offender. 

Fantasy-motivated offenders are individuals for whom the viewing of child sexual exploitation videos is part of fulfilling a "fantasy pursuit," rather than the utilization of child porn for the purposes of facilitating an actual contact offence against a child.

Further details on the circumstances of the case and details of the allegations are expected to be revealed during sentencing submissions, which will continue Wednesday in Kelowna.

Krock remains out of custody on bail.