Child Abuse Offences in Australia

A Paedophile from Western Australia has been sentenced to 25 years in jail after sexually abusing 22 children over a 6-year period.

Various child Exploitation videos were exposed after his ex-wife became sceptical of a blank USB she found and ran file recovery software.

The 47-year-old man had set up secret recording devices in areas of the house such as bathrooms and bedrooms to video children between the ages of two and 12 getting changed.

The man abused his own children and friends when they came over for sleepovers evidenced by a go-pro camera that he strapped onto his head to film himself abusing and violating them.

The man drugged his own daughter with an over-the- counter sedative to which she called was from a “hidey-hole-pocket in his car” so she was not conscious during the horrific acts.

“There was no place for her that was safe”. Judge Gething said.

The Police in their investigation had to review over 288 hours of recovered recordings from the recovered USB.

The man’s electronic devices also contained millions of images and recordings of child abuse material.

District Court Judge Michael Gething described the case as “one of the worst cases of its kind to come before the courts in Western Australia”.

In court, he pleaded guilty to more than 420 charges where Judge Gething took into consideration various impact statements that described the abuse as “incomprehensible” and absolute “betrayal”.

Judge Gething allowed a 25% reduction on his sentence due to his guilty plea that reduced the reliving of trauma for victims and families and the lengthy court process.

Judge Gething did however reject the claims that the man’s offences were committed in “a fog of drugs and alcohol” highlighting he was not genuinely remorseful.

To protect the identity of his victims and their families his name will be withheld from the public.

Offences of Possessing Child Abuse Material or Child Pornography

In NSW under sections 91G and 91H of the Crimes Act 1900, it is a criminal offence to use children for the production of child abuse material and to produce, possess, or disseminate this material.

According to section 91H(2) Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) the maximum penalty for this offence is imprisonment for 10 years.

In NSW and Commonwealth law, the Criminal Code Act 1995 (CTH) laws impose serious penalties by prohibiting the use of carriage services for child abuse material,

Section 474.23 and section 474.20 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth) the maximum penalty of possessing, controlling, producing, supplying or obtaining child pornography of child abuse material will impose a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment if that person does it with the intention that the material be used by that person in the various carriage services.

Here is more on the laws on child abuse material and child pornography in Australia.

Child Protection Register

What is the child protection register? The Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000 governs the Child protection register that holds details of child sex offenders who may continue to pose danger to children.

Due to the high risk of sex offenders re-offending, the register aims to help prevent and detect offences relating to children.

The objects of the act include:

1. To protect children from serious harm (including physical and psychological harm caused by physical or sexual assault), and
2. To ensure the early detection of offences by recidivist child sex offenders, and
3. to monitor persons who are registrable persons, and
4. to ensure that registrable persons comply with this Act.

The Register allows the recording of various information:

This includes their address, employment details, vehicle registration, tattoos, distinguishing marks, travel, regular contact with children, affiliation to organisations or clubs involving children, internet service providers, usernames, identities online, DNA profiles, fingerprints, and photographs.

A person on this register are obliged to report this information annually and is required to be on the register from when they are sentenced or from when they are released from prison if they are imprisoned for their crimes.

Depending on the class of the offence the period of time differs.

For class 1 offences including the murder of a child or sexual intercourse with a child and class two offences such as manslaughter of a child, indecent acts, possession of child pornography, child kidnapping, and grooming offences an offender must report for the entirety of their life.

By Alysa Maschmedt and Jimmy Singh.

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