The Court: Geelong Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Ryan Robertson
The Charges:
- Using a Carriage Service for Child Abuse Material
- Possessing Child Abuse Material Accessed Using a Carriage Service
The Allegations:
The client was a 60-year-old with no criminal history who was found to have accessed and downloaded child abuse material via the dark web. He was found possessing over 50,000 images of child pornography; the majority of the photos were level 1, with 100 of the worst category of images being level 4.
The categories:
- Level 1 – nude posing
- Level 2 – having sex with oneself
- Level 3 – sex between kids
- Level 4 – penetrative
- Level 5 – bestiality and sadism
Upon his arrest, he cooperated with the police and made full admissions to the offences, demonstrating significant remorse. He voluntarily undertook psychological counselling.
The client was charged with several commonwealth offences.
At Court:
Our solicitor referred the client to a forensic psychologist for the preparation of a court report.
The client entered pleas of guilty to the offences, and our solicitor made extensive submissions to the court about the psychological report that we had obtained. It was clear that the client had issues with self-esteem and socialisation. The client had lived a very lonely life, being isolated with no sexual partner, since 1995.
He had no prior history, had made full admissions, and the majority of the images were on the lower end. The client had good prospects for rehabilitation and a solid work history, and came from a difficult background where his father had been abusive and violent. It was put on behalf of the client that the above matters led to a fairly dysfunctional, lonely and isolated life.
The Outcome:
The Judge sentenced the client to a recognisance release order for two years, released forthwith to be of good behaviour for three years, and an 18-month community corrections order, with 300 hours of unpaid work, subject to conditions to complete the sex offenders program and engage in assessment for mental health and treatment.
The client was very lucky to escape gaol, given that the Victorian Court of Appeal has been fairly clear that offenders with this many images should serve an immediate gaol sentence.
