sentence — 5 counts of making available, transmitting or accessing child abuse material offences contrary to s 474.19(1) of the Commonwealth Criminal Code, 1 count of committing at least three of the offences under s 474.19 to at least two persons offences contrary to s 474.24A(1) of the Commonwealth Criminal Code — additional state offence — guilty plea — s 16A(2)(g) — pleas are early pleas, demonstrate willingness to facilitate course of justice and reflective of remorse — reduction of 25% to each sentence to reflect the pleas — nature and circumstances of the offence — s 16A(2)(a) — offences are of varying objective seriousness — no commercial gain and offender did not create any material — shared or was prepared to share images in various ways — one count of offending is most serious based on period of time, circumstances of continued offending after accounts were closed, number and nature of the images — this offence falls mid-range of objective seriousness — other counts fall below mid-range for offence, with one being an attempt offence — fact that offender viewed child abuse material and derived sexual arousal does reflect some paedophilic tendencies even if not amounting to meeting a psychiatric disorder — offender’s description of comments as ‘light-hearted’ was confronting and reflected some failure to grasp full impact of conduct — sentencing judge accepted offender initially exposed to material through targeted suggestions from other usage, driven by their addictive personality — offender understood what they were doing was clearly wrong and not driven by sexual urges — particularly disturbing offender prepared to make available images that could be accessed beyond like-minded persons — demonstrated lack of subterfuge and facilitated ready detection however must be assessed against offender’s stated aim of seeking favourable responses and popularity — not a victimless crime — contrition — s 16A(2)(f)(ii) — rehabilitation — s 16A(2)(n) — genuine remorse and insight into impact of offending, offender taken full responsibility for conduct and has commenced treatment although not necessarily targeted to root of offending — evidently a sexual deviancy that has not been addressed — although offender aroused by some material they were more driven at time of offending at ascertaining public response to material they disseminated — offender said no compulsion to access child abuse material now that they understood damage caused to victims — prospects of rehabilitation and likelihood of re-offending are positive — general deterrence — s 16A(2)(ja) — general deterrence and denunciation paramount sentencing consideration in offences of child abuse material, committed in private, difficult to detect and are increasingly prevalent — none of offender’s mental health issues lessen significance of general deterrence — mental condition — s 16A(2)(m) — offender’s depression, anxiety, ADHD and issues with addictive conduct serve to only modestly ameliorate moral culpability — accept that conditions in custody may be slightly more onerous because of their mental health issues, however also note apparent resilience as evidenced in witness box — offender’s family and dependants — s 16A(2)(p) — likely impact on family taken into account — wife financially dependent on his income, she may need to return to her birth country for financial reasons if offender unable to support her — real concerns but no greater than often encountered — sentence — imposed 3 years’ and 4 months imprisonment with a 1 year and 9 month non-parole period
