Bail denied for 29-year-old Kingston man accused of luring 14-year-old girl

Content warning: the following article contains sexually explicit details and language which some readers may find disturbing.

Despite a commitment by his parents to act as his sureties, Braidon Hockey will not be granted bail while he awaits trial for child luring-related charges.

At the Ontario Court of Justice bail court in the Kingston Courthouse at 279 Wellington Street on Wednesday, Jul. 19, 2023, Justice of the Peace Jack Chiang refused Hockey’s bail request and ordered the 29-year-old accused man detained.

As a result of a Kingston Police Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit investigation, Hockey is facing 10 luring-related charges including:

• Luring to facilitate sexual interference
• Luring to facilitate invitation to sexual touching
• Making sexually explicit material available to a child under 16 years of age
• Invitation to sexual touching
• Indecent exposure to a child under 16
• Adult agreeing or arranging to commit a sexual offence against a child under 16
• Breach of probation

Chiang began the hearing by summarizing his understanding of the serious accusations against Hockey.

Sometime in June, Chiang said, Kingston Police received a report that Hockey, “using a Snapchat account by the name of Beazy,” sent inappropriate messages to a 14-year-old girl. Police then started an investigation whereby they “created their own Snapchat account, posing as a 14-year-old young girl.”

“In subsequent weeks, the officer-created [Snapchat] account received numerous messages and a few videos of the accused masturbating,” explained Chiang, who then went on to read some of the messages “so that people have an idea about what the content was.”

In one video, ‘Beazy’ confirmed that it was a video of him and that he was 29 years old, and he sent a second video of himself masturbating, a video “which included his face,” said Chiang. In subsequent messages ‘Beazy’ invited the officers posing as a 14-year-old girl to have sex, saying, “I’ll be your daddy; I will teach you everything” and several other sexually explicit messages.

A detective was able to geotag the sender of the Snapchat account and narrow his location to Hockey’s address in the Woodbine/Bayridge area of Kingston’s west end. Later it was established by the Crown that Hockey was arrested while he was walking his dog.

Chiang noted that Hockey has “some very recent convictions” including assault, harassment, breach of probation, possession of prohibited weapons, and possession of stolen property, however, it is important to note that a previous criminal record does not affect the current charges against him, nor imply Hockey is guilty of the offences he’s accused of. Nonetheless, Chiang noted one incident, which he said he found disturbing. At his family residence in 2020, Hockey argued with a close relative, brandished a machete, and “pointed a gun at [the relative’s] face,” — and this all occurred in his parents’ home, Chiang detailed.

Crown attorney Greg Skerkowski added that, at the time of his arrest, Hockey was interviewed by police and “admitted to having care and use of the Beazy Snapchat account,” which “would have some impact upon the strength of the Crown’s case.”

Skerkowski also brought attention to two more recent convictions  “which are not yet on CPIC” (Canadian Police Information Centre). Both were convictions of “uttering threats” and “breach of probation,” one in Napanee and one in Kingston from February 2023. The Crown noted them as important, as they suggested that Hockey already has a record of breaching conditions imposed upon him.

The court then heard from both of Hockey’s parents, who wished to act as his sureties by monitoring his conditions of bail and offering a monetary guarantee.  

Chiang said that despite the commitment of Hockey’s parents, whom he considered hard-working and upstanding citizens, in this case, he could “impose all the conditions I want until the cows come home,” but the conditions of bail demand two things: the surety’s ability to supervise the accused, and the accused person’s willingness to abide by the conditions.

“I find that, ironically, the secondary ground [of concern] is usually about the safety of the public,” Chiang noted. “In this case, I worry about the safety of the sureties… Since they have no control over him, there’s no control over him himself, and he’s a violent person.” 

Chiang therefore denied the request for bail, and Hockey will next appear in court in mid-August.