A sentencing hearing for a former Winnipeg radio DJ and Scouts leader guilty of sex and child pornography offences was adjourned Wednesday after a judge questioned why he should be obligated to watch a sampling of illegal videos and images seized by police.

"Provide me with case law that says I have to watch it ... and sit through 12 videos and the rest of it," Judge Brent Stewart told the Crown at a sentencing hearing for Christopher Clarke Elwick.

Elwick, 34, pleaded guilty last spring to four counts of making child pornography, and one count each of possession of child pornography, sexual assault, sexual interference, and invitation to sexual touching.

Elwick has admitted to sexually assaulting two young children and secretly recording videos of children as they used the washroom or undressed in change rooms.

It has become standard practice for prosecutors in such cases, even when there is a guilty plea, to provide judges with a "representative sampling" of the illegal images or videos at issue. The images Stewart was to be shown Wednesday included both videos Elwick recorded himself and videos or pictures he downloaded from the Internet.

Stewart questioned why it would not be satisfactory for the Crown to provide a detailed description of the videos and pictures, rather than require him to look at them.

"I believe the videos would speak for the offences themselves" and "would have a more serious impact," Crown attorney Debbie Buors said.

Stewart gave the Crown two weeks to provide the court with a written submission supporting its position.

"I want substantiation or justification that I am forced to go through (this material)," he said.

Elwick previously worked at rock station Power 97 in Winnipeg and was fired from Energy 106 just prior to his September 2014 arrest. He volunteered with Beavers/Scouts Canada for approximately a decade, ending in 2009.

Elwick's victims include both children he mentored as a Scout leader and non-Scouts. The offences occurred between 2008 and 2013 while Elwick was living in Manitoba and Alberta.

dean.pritchard@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @deanatwpgsun