The offender was sentenced following a plea of guilty of an aggravated offence – involving conduct on three or more occasions and two or more people, using a carriage service to transmit child pornography material, using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material, using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material, using a carriage service to cause child pornography material to be transmitted to self, using a carriage service to solicit child pornography material and using a carriage service to access child pornography material contrary to the Commonwealth Criminal Code. Additional offence was taken into account under s 16AB. Original sentence imposed 12 years imprisonment with a 6 year non-parole period. Crown appealed on the basis that the sentence was manifestly inadequate.
Nature and Circumstances: Numerical equivalence is seldom able to be demonstrated through comparable cases. The number of images and videos is but one of many factors to be weighed in the balance. The type of material involved across the board centred heavily on images and videos of very young victims, particularly involving newborn babies and predominantly toddlers. By focusing not just on vulnerable children, but on the most vulnerable of children the offender descended into ultimate depravity. Offender’s conduct in seeking images and videos, distributing them, encouraging others to distribute or receive them, and administering at least one group of like-minded people meant that offender became one of the architects of degradation of human life. The corruption of newborns and toddlers proceeded from their earliest time of life, denied them any semblance of a normal life and degraded them in a way that made them simply objects for perversion. By degrading them, the offender degraded everyone else in normal society. By reason of offender’s participation in numerous groups, the dissemination of material was itself enormous in quantity, and to a potential enormous audience. Multiple platforms were used and the categorising and storing of images demonstrated methodical and organised approach. This was a determined, prolonged, sophisticated and unrelenting pursuit of pernicious material. Offender administered group. The group collectively had over 3600 and 2000 videos posted. Sentence imposed does not properly reflect gravity of offending.
Appeal allowed. Offender re-sentenced to 16 years imprisonment with a 10 year non-parole period.
Nature and Circumstances: Numerical equivalence is seldom able to be demonstrated through comparable cases. The number of images and videos is but one of many factors to be weighed in the balance. The type of material involved across the board centred heavily on images and videos of very young victims, particularly involving newborn babies and predominantly toddlers. By focusing not just on vulnerable children, but on the most vulnerable of children the offender descended into ultimate depravity. Offender’s conduct in seeking images and videos, distributing them, encouraging others to distribute or receive them, and administering at least one group of like-minded people meant that offender became one of the architects of degradation of human life. The corruption of newborns and toddlers proceeded from their earliest time of life, denied them any semblance of a normal life and degraded them in a way that made them simply objects for perversion. By degrading them, the offender degraded everyone else in normal society. By reason of offender’s participation in numerous groups, the dissemination of material was itself enormous in quantity, and to a potential enormous audience. Multiple platforms were used and the categorising and storing of images demonstrated methodical and organised approach. This was a determined, prolonged, sophisticated and unrelenting pursuit of pernicious material. Offender administered group. The group collectively had over 3600 and 2000 videos posted. Sentence imposed does not properly reflect gravity of offending.
Appeal allowed. Offender re-sentenced to 16 years imprisonment with a 10 year non-parole period.
