A 62-year-old Canadian man, who directed a Chinese father to sexually assault his 1-year-old son over Skype, was sentenced to five years in prison last month.

When Shanghai-based writer Chen Lan read the news on the Vancouver Sun's website, she was shocked.

The report said the Canadian had visited the Chinese father and son on a trip to Shanghai in September 2009, and in 2010, the man and the father used Skype to see each other and to chat, with the Canadian directing the Chinese father to perform sex acts on his son.