A Copper Cliff woman used a hidden camera to take more than 250 photographs of her teenage daughter while she was bathing, a Sudbury court was told Tuesday.

The woman was also caught with a variety of child pornography material in 2011 and 2012.

For all of that, she will spend 90 days in jail.

"These offences are abhorrent and disgusting and are worthy of a jail term," Ontario Court Justice Richard Humphrey said Tuesday. "It needs to be known to the public that people who involve themselves with child pornography of any form that the likelihood of incarceration is a strong possibility, even for a first offence."

Humphrey accepted a joint sentencing submission from the Crown and defence lawyer Denis Michel for the now 36-year-old woman, who cannot be named due to a publication ban.

The woman had pleaded guilty to two of 12 charges she was facing: possession of child pornography and visual recording of a person in privacy.

The woman, who had no prior record, was also put on three’ years probation, which includes such conditions as having no contact with her children; including the teen she videotaped; a weapons ban; and not having computer or Internet access except with advanced written permission from her probation officer.

The woman must also take any recommended counselling or treatment for psychological, psychiatric or sexual deviancy issues; cannot hold a job or volunteer position involving a position of trust with minors; cannot attend such places as schools, daycares and swimming pools where minors would be present; and cannot have any communication with a minor unless in the presence of an adult who is aware of her conviction and the probation order.

As well, Humphrey ordered the woman be registered on the national Sex Offenders Registry for 10 years, that she provide a genetic sample to the national DNA databank, and that the computer in the woman’s home found to contain child pornography be forfeited to the Crown.

Three other computers seized by police, which did not contain child pornography, were ordered returned.

"She has not had any contact with her daughter," Michel told the court on the woman’s behalf. "She just wants her to know nothing was reproduced, duplicated or copied anywhere. She is having a hard time dealing with this."

The woman’s 30-year-old boyfriend, meanwhile, who was facing identical child pornography-related charges, plus a careless storage of a firearm charge, pleaded guilty to the gun charge. He was fined $500. The Crown dropped the other charges.

While there is no publication ban on the man’s name, naming him would identify the woman.

The couple had one child together. The man, who was represented by Glenn Sandberg, had no prior record.

The teen who was secretly filmed did not provide a victim impact statement to the court.

The court heard the woman set up a secret camera in the washroom of her home from Oct. 1, 2011, to March 28, 2012.

During a search of the residence April 12, 2012, Greater Sudbury Police found a long gun with no trigger lock on a shelf and two loaded magazines and two boxes of ammunition nearby.

At the time, a young child was living in the home.

A quick check of four computers in the home found no child pornography was present on three of them. But child pornography was found on a desktop computer with three hard drives. A forensic examination of that computer turned up 447 images of child pornography, including 251 of the woman’s teenage daughter taken while she was bathing, and 87 videos of child pornography.

The Greater Sudbury Police Cyber Crime Unit had become aware of a computer in the home being involved in file-sharing of child pornography in late October of 2011 and began monitoring its activity.

When a connection to the computer was made, an officer was able to download and view child pornography. That led to a search warrant being executed at the residence April 12, 2012.

Sandberg told the court his client was unaware of the child pornography activity occurring on the computer, and was only accepting responsibility for the firearm in the home.

Michel said the woman’s pleas went a long way to resolving the case.

"The big issue would have been identification of the user – a large triable issue," he said.

Still, Michel called the case "a very disturbing matter."

He said the university-educated woman lost her job as a result of her charges, suffered personal bankruptcy, is suffering from depression and has issues of self-esteem.

As well, she was sexually abused as a child.

"She needs to have some psychiatric issues looked into," said Michel.

harold.carmichael@sunmedia.ca