A depressed woman who was sent a video showing a young girl being raped during sexually explicit online chats with an American man was sentenced to the minimum two-week jail sentence for possessing child pornography on Thursday.

Ontario Court Justice Lise Maisonneuve said Morgan Raycroft's decision to allow the Illinois man to send her the illegal material was largely caused by her low self-esteem and a need to be accepted.

Maisonneuve said Raycroft, 24, had a "sad" life that included battling depression by the time she was in Grade 1 and years of being bullied about her weight when she was a child. Raycroft was also in an abusive relationship with a woman 13 years her senior at the time of the offence.

Raycroft was working at an Ottawa high-tech firm on a help desk in April 2010 when she became engaged in online chats with a male employee in the United States. The online chats involved sexual role playing in which Raycroft would pretend to be a young girl.

Raycroft's employer contacted police in June 2010 after discovering that child pornography had been sent to Raycroft.

Raycroft denied having any child pornography when police confronted her, but allowed them to search her computer. Investigators then found the single video along with another 10 still images of child pornography.

Maisonneuve said Raycroft's rehabilitation was important.

Raycroft has already engaged in counselling and has excelled in school since being charged, Maisonneuve said. A sexual behaviours assessment found her to be a low risk to reoffend.

In addition to the jail time, Raycroft was placed on probation for a year, including conditions she not associate with anyone under 16 unless another adult is present. She was also added to the sex offenders registry and ordered to provide a DNA sample.