DPP v Standing

11. On about 14 September 2023, you engaged in a Snapchat live video call with Victim 3 whilst she was at her residence. During that call, you asked Victim 3 to remove all her clothing and show you her naked body. You then showed yourself to her masturbating until you ejaculated.
12. On 21 September 2023, Victim 3 provided a Video and Audio Recorded Evidence statement to police detailing her interactions with you. Police obtained a download of her mobile phone which included multiple images of you displaying your erect penis. That material is the foundation of Charge 6.
13. I deal next with the police action leading to your arrest.
14. On 12 December 2023, investigators from Central Victoria Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team executed a search warrant at your home address. During the execution of that warrant, police seized 14 of your electronic devices, including:

a) a computer tower; > > b) an iPhone 12 Pro Max; > > c) a Toshiba Hard Drive; and > > d) a Black Toshiba USB.

15. You were arrested, cautioned and had your rights explained to you. In summary, you made the following comments to police:

a) That you had been in touch with Victim 3, but you claimed you were not aware that Victim 3 was under 16; > > b) You claimed that Victim 3 had sent photographs, but they had been removed; > > c) That it had been months since you had interacted with her, and when you did have interactions with her, at first you did not know her age. You claimed she never said that she was younger than 18. > > d) That when she had sent nudes it was like, 'whoa you look a lot younger' which was when you cut off.

16. You were conveyed to the Eaglehawk police station where you made 'no comment' predominantly to questions asked of you during a recorded interview. You were then released pending summons.
17. However, police attended your home address again that afternoon and spoke with you and Victim 2.
18. During the conversation with Victim 2, Victim 2 informed the police that:

a) she initially gave a date of birth in September 2002, but later admitted it was September 2007; > > b) she had been with you for five months and you and she were partners; > > c) she and you had met online through Snapchat and now lived together; > > d) she and you did stuff a normal couple do such as 'hugging, kissing, saying I love you'; and > > e) 'It' had 'gone further twice', since you and Victim 2 first started living together. In relation to those two occasions Victim 2 was referring to sexual activity between the two of you.

19. On 13 December 2023, you were arrested and conveyed to Bendigo police station for interview.
20. You made 'no comment' to questions put to you during interview and you were remanded to appear at Bendigo Magistrates' Court.
21. I deal next with the evidence relating to Charge 7 of possession of child abuse material.
22. A full forensic analysis was conducted on the electronic devices seized from your address during the execution of the search warrant. The data on those devices was categorised according to the Interpol Baseline 4 Classification Model, which revealed the following child abuse material files which had been created between 15 November 2020 and 12 December 2023:
    1. The iPhone 12 Pro Max contained:
       1. 11 Category 1 images.
       2. 5 Category 1 videos.
       3. 875 Category 2 images.
       4. 145 Category 2 videos.

• − Multiple, unknown, post pubescent female children, engaged in sexual acts, either by themselves or with you. Those acts included penis/vagina sex.
• − Videos of Victim 2, exposing Victim 2's breasts and genitals and urinating.
  • − Four images created on 6 September 2021, showing you naked and masturbating, while holding a cat against your testicles and anus.

1. The Toshiba M2 Hard Drive contained:
   1. 184 Category 2 images.
   2. 13 Category 2 videos.

• − Animated and computer generated female children engaged in penetrative sexual acts, often with animated adults. The children primarily appeared to be of Asian or Caucasian descent and were often wearing school uniforms.

1. The Black Toshiba USB contained:
   1. 1 Category 1 image
   2. 40 Category 2 images.
   3. 3 Category 2 videos.

• − An unidentified, prepubescent Caucasian, female posing naked.
• − An unidentified, prepubescent Caucasian male, posing wearing underwear, with a sexual message written across the photograph.
• − Multiple photographs and videos of one of your ex-partners exposing her breasts, genitals and being involved in self-penetrative acts.

1. The Computer Tower containing a 500GB Western Digital Hard Drive contained:
   1. 4 Category 2 images.
   2. 2 Category 2 videos.

• − An animated, prepubescent female involved in a penetrative sex act with an animated male with the following text 'By posting this image the user agrees that anyone may send them any porn, no matter how fucked up. Any kink. Any age. Legal or illegal. No limits. User may not block or report anything'.
• − Multiple photographs and videos of one of your ex-partners exposing her breasts and genitals.

1. The Black Toshiba USB also contained the following:
   1. 5 Category 1 images.
   2. 18 Category 2 images.
      1. 2 Category 2 videos.

• − An unidentified, prepubescent Caucasian male, posing wearing underwear, with a sexual message written across the photograph.
  • − Multiple photographs and videos of one of your ex-partners exposing her breasts and genitals.

1. I deal next with the evidence relating to Charge 1 of sexual activity in the presence of a child under 16.
2. Your iPhone 12 Pro Max was analysed and the following videos were located:
   • − Videos and images created on 15 January 2021, which showed you engaging in sexual acts with your ex-partner whilst Victim 1, then aged about 13 months, was watching from her cot.
   • − Two images created on 6 September 2021, which show you standing in front of Victim 1, who was then aged about 22 months and was lying on the ground naked. You were also naked and were spinning your penis around in the direction of your child.
3. I deal next with the evidence relating to Charges 2 and 3 against Victim 2.
4. Your iPhone 12 Pro Max contained a screen recording of Snapchat conversations between you and Victim 2. These conversations were manually saved by you and took place between 30 June 2023 and 30 November 2023. They consisted of sexually explicit conversations, arranging to meet in person and the exchange of nude and sexual videos involving each of you, which included the following:
   1. On 30 June 2023, Victim 2 sent a photograph to you, showing her holding a sex toy against her lips. The picture was accompanied by the message 'When I get more comfortable I'll show more'.
   2. On 1 July 2023, you sent a message to Victim 2 stating, 'You better cream into my mouth' accompanied by 'devil' and 'drooling' emojis.
   3. Victim 2 sent you a video showing her with both breasts exposed. You asked Victim 2 if you could save the video to chat and she stated 'sure...' and 'I wanna do only fans when I'm old enough'. You responded stating, 'Maybe we can create content together', and then 'you better sit on my face'. 'I wanna see if you'll do as your told' and 'Daddy is horny, when will you be in your shower?'. 'How about you show us that pussy with your legs spread'. On 3 July 2023, you and Victim 2 arranged to meet in person. Once you and Victim 2 had met, you sent a message stating, 'hey can you send me that video?'. Victim 2 responded, 'There you go daddy' and attached the video, created that day, of you and Victim 2 engaged in penis/vagina sex (also relevant to Charge 4).
   4. On 4 July 2023, you and Victim 2 discussed meeting every Friday and Victim 2 stated, 'You can pick me up from school if that's easier'. The two of you then discussed the fact that '16 is legal' and Victim 2 further stated, 'I've told my mum that I'm cutting contact with her as soon as I turn 16'.
   5. On 5 July 2023, Victim 2 and you sent each other videos of you each masturbating.
   6. On 9 July 2023, Victim 2 told you that her mother had become aware of the relationship between you. You responded by stating, 'and they know my age?'. 'oh fuck', 'was my name said?' and 'so how much does she know?'. Victim 2 responded, 'that your overage and have a kid'. Victim 2 further stated, 'Once I'm 16 it doesn't matter if she says something'.

7. The two of you discussed Victim 2 moving in with you and Victim 2 mentioned '[XX] of september'. You asked, 'you wanna move in on the [XX]?' and Victim 2 responded, 'that's the day after I turn 16'. On 10 July 2023, Victim 2 sent you a video of her brushing her teeth. You responded, 'Do that to me mummy' with a winking emoji. Later that night, Victim 2 sent you a video of herself, naked in the bathroom. 8. On 12 July 2024, Victim 2 sent you a video of her topless with both breasts exposed. 9. On 13 July 2023, you and Victim 2 arranged to meet later that day. That night, Victim 2 sent you a picture of herself lying down with what appears to be semen on her face. 10. On 16 July 2023, Victim 2 asked you, 'Would being licked in the tip feel good or hurt?'. That message was accompanied by a picture of an animated character licking a penis. You responded, 'So I kinda like the feeling' and 'I'm always down to try new things'. 11. On 18 July 2023, you sent a picture to Victim 2 which depicted your face, cropped onto an animated body, accompanied by the words 'I love your vagina'. 12. On 21 July 2023, Victim 2 sent you a photograph of her lying down, exposing both breasts. 13. On 22 July 2023, you and Victim 2 had an extended conversation where the two of you discussed the risks to you every time the two of you met in person, prior to Victim 2 turning 16. Victim 2 ended that conversation by stating, 'I don't want you getting caught. I love you so much and I don't wanna lose you'. 14. On 24 July 2023, Victim 2 sent you a picture of herself exposing genitals and breasts.

15. On 28 July 2023, Victim 2 sent you a photograph and two videos of her exposing both breasts and genitals in her bathroom. 16. On 29 July 2023, Victim 2 sent you the message 'wish u were filling up my hole with ur cock juicy cock right now daddy'. The message was accompanied by a video of Victim 2 exposing her genitals. 17. On 10 November 2023, Victim 2 sent you a screenshot from the game 'The Sims'. That screenshot depicted two animated adults, naked, and engaged in sexual acts with each other. You responded, 'Also damnnnnn'.
16. I deal next with further evidence relating to Charge 4, which is a rolled-up charge of sexual penetration of Victim 2 at a time when she was a child under 16 years.

28. Your iPhone 12 Pro Max contained the following videos:

1. A video created on 3rd July 2023, which shows you engaging in penis and vagina sex with Victim 2 at your home.
2. Multiple videos created on 7 August 2023, showing Victim 2 penetrating her vagina with a vibrating sex toy.
3. A video created on 18 August 2023, showing Victim 2 performing oral sex on you.
4. A video created on 2 September 2023, showing you engaging in penile/vaginal sex with Victim 2.

29. The only victim impact statement relied upon by the prosecution is from your former partner and mother of Victim 1. Given the age of Victim 1 and the circumstances of your offending in relation to Charge 1, I am not persuaded that it provides any sufficient and reasonable basis for linking the thrust of its contents to your offending.

1. Turning to matters personal to you. Your counsel provided me with careful and thorough written submissions dated 15 February 2025 (Exhibit 1) accompanied by a table of comparative cases (Exhibit 2).
2. She also tendered and relied upon a report from Jeffrey Cummins, psychologist, dated 24 September 2024 (Exhibit 3).
3. Oral submissions were commenced, but adjourned part heard to today to allow for a Forensicare psychiatric report to be prepared to assist you in your plea for leniency. A report dated 7 April 2025 has been provided by Dr David Trainor, consultant forensic psychiatrist, which is now marked Exhibit 4.
4. In addition, I have received a helpful and informative letter from your mother dated 27 February 2025, which is now marked Exhibit 5 and Orders and Reasons for Judgement of the Family Court of Australia dated 3 April 2008 in relation to matters concerning parenting of you and your sister following the severing of the relationship between your parents who separated in April 2000. That material is marked Exhibit 6. I have also received addendum submissions from your counsel dated 11 April 2025 which have been marked Exhibit 7.
5. I have also received further prosecution submissions in writing. That document is marked Exhibit D.
6. In her submissions, your counsel stressed your youthful age at the time of the offending and now, coupled with the absence of any prior convictions. You are entitled to significant reduction in sentence for your pleas of guilty at the earliest opportunity and your expressions of remorse. Your counsel urged me to take into account your background history and to apply Bugmy principles and to some extent, Verdins principles, together with additional hardships that you have been, and will continue to experience whilst in custody, in further reduction of sentence, noting that you have been on remand awaiting sentence since 13 December 2023.
7. Your counsel relied on the history of your childhood, family background, family violence, parental separation at a young age, physical and mental impairments, paternal abuse of various kinds in the first four or five years of your life and a schooling history marred by bullying and social isolation. Your schooling ended prematurely after the death by suicide of a teacher who had provided you with substantial support and assistance. That death apparently had a significant emotional impact upon you. In early adulthood, you experienced homelessness. You then became a parent to Victim 1 with a younger female partner who lacked the capacity to provide adequate parenting. Child Protection Officers allowed you to assume full responsibility for parenting your daughter provided you remained separated from her mother. Victim 1 was in your primary care for more than three years in the period prior to your arrest for these offences.
8. These and other aspects of your personal history are documented in detail in the report of Mr Cummins (Exhibit 3). The letter from your mother (Exhibit 5) provides further information in support and development of that history, including reference to your estranged father having been sentenced to imprisonment for sexual abuse of an 11-year-old girl, which offending came to light after your father had sent you and your older sister a video of him engaging in that offending conduct. I do not understand there to be any challenge by the prosecution to the probability of that history being factually accurate. In his report (Exhibit 4), Dr Trainor writes at paragraph 55:

It is likely that these childhood experiences resulted in personality vulnerabilities of him internalising a sense of himself as an incapable individual, developing feelings of dependency and inadequacy, a sensitivity to rejection, an unwillingness to become involved with others unless certain of being liked, episodes of self-harm in the context of poor coping skills, and him developing poor social skills.

1. Then in paragraph 57, referring to you, Dr Trainor states:

He described a pattern of compulsive sexual behaviour ... It is likely that the predominant motivators for the offending included his hypersexual drive, his sexual attraction to minors, and his personality vulnerabilities that made him more likely to seek companionship from those younger than him, and social factors such as unemployment and relative isolation (or at least not socialising with peers).

1. Although I accept that you have exhibited symptoms of anxiety and depression and that you have demonstrated 'personality vulnerabilities', I do not find in either Exhibit 3, Exhibit 4 or generally, convincing evidence to support the application of any of the Verdins principles. That is not to say that the evidence of your mental or personality impairments is irrelevant. Indeed, it is relevant to other aspects of the plea submissions on your behalf.
2. In particular, on the whole of the evidence concerning your personal history, supported by the opinions of Dr Trainor summarised in the passages in Exhibit 4 to which I have referred, together with the opinion of Mr Cummins expressed in paragraph 50 of Exhibit 3 and the letter from your mother (Exhibit 5), I conclude that the submission by your counsel that Bugmy principles should be applied in reduction of your moral culpability has been made good on the balance of probabilities.
3. If I am wrong in my conclusion about the non-application of Verdins principles, or in my conclusion as to the applicability of Bugmy principles, I am satisfied that the contents of Exhibits 3 and 4, coupled with the letter from your mother (Exhibit 5), provide a sufficient basis for substantial modification of moral culpability for your offending.
4. That said, I note in the assessment of Mr Cummins expressed in paragraph 53 of Exhibit 3 that you present at least a moderate risk of committing a further sexual offence. It is nevertheless to your credit that, as you indicated to Mr Cummins, you are motivated to undergo offence specific treatment.
5. In Exhibit 4, Dr Trainor supports the desirability of participation in such programs. Unfortunately, his report sheds no additional light on your risk of sexual reoffending and there is no basis for concluding that the risk that you will commit a further sexual offence is presently less than that expressed by Mr Cummins.
6. Despite your having no prior criminal record, I cannot therefore assess your current prospects of rehabilitation as better than guarded. It is to be hoped that once you have been sentenced you will become eligible for a sex-offenders' rehabilitation treatment program so that you may improve your prospects of rehabilitation whilst serving sentence.
7. I turn now to comment upon your offending conduct.
8. In relation to charge 1, Victim 1 was very young, a little under 14 months at the time of the first and more serious incident and between 21 and 22 months at the time of the second. I received no expert evidence as to what a child of that age would, or may, have understood or of the risks that the child might have been adversely affected by either of the two incidents supporting the rolled-up charge. Common sense and my own experience of children that age suggest that such risks of actual harm occurring from either incident are, at worst, minimal. Further, I do not regard the victim impact statement (Exhibit C) submitted by Victim 1's mother, dated almost three years after the second of the two incidents supporting Charge 1, to be capable of providing evidence of any reliable link between the child's apparently more recent behaviours as described in Exhibit C and the offending conduct. I note in that regard that in Exhibit C the author speaks of 'the incident' in the singular when the offending involved two different and distinct incidents separated by almost eight months when the child was at all stages less than two years old.
9. That is not to say that the offending can be brushed off as trivial. With child victims of sexual offences, there is a presumption of harm. However, in my judgement, it is necessary to apply a common-sense and proportionate approach to how that presumption should apply in an individual case, particularly for a child as young as Victim 1.
10. You demonstrated, by your offending, an indifference to the possibility that your conduct might have had an adverse effect upon your daughter and you must have been well aware that it was contrary to community standards.
11. In all the circumstances, I assess the nature of this offence as in the low range and therefore deserving of a sentence well below the standard sentence for the offence, being imprisonment for four years.
12. In relation to Charges 2, 3 and 4, I remind myself that the standard sentence for the offence in Charge 4 is imprisonment for six years. I regard that offence as being relatively serious and within the mid-range of seriousness for such offences. You well knew at material times that Victim 2 was under the age of 16, although not far short of that age, when you repeatedly engaged in sexual penetrations with her. However, I accept the probability that you were then intending a long term relationship with Victim 2, extending well beyond her 16th birthday, and given matters personal to you relied upon by your counsel, including your age both at the time of the offending and now, hitherto good character, physical impairments, childhood experiences and abuses, parental separation and the application of Bugmy principles, both in a general sense and particularly in relation to your offending in reduction of your moral culpability, the sentence I intend to impose is substantially less than the standard sentence.
13. As for Charges 2 and 3, I am conscious of the need to avoid double punishment with reference to both Charge 4 and Charge 7. I seek to achieve that principally by adjusting orders for cumulation to reflect the degree to which each offence addresses additional criminality deserving of separate punishment whilst maintaining a focus on the proportionality and totality principles.
14. Likewise, dealing with Charges 5, 6 and 7, my approach is the same. In that regard, the criminality in relation to Charge 5 is of relatively short duration. But Victim 3 was about 16 months younger than Victim 2 and the offending is separate and additional to that in any of the other charges. The criminality relating to Charge 6 is much less serious than Charge 7, but is additional to that criminality.
15. In assessing a total effective sentence, in addition to the matters to which I have already referred in detail, I take into account that your continuing separation from your daughter, your physical and personality impairments, including your hearing issues and your sight issues, have already made, and will continue to make, serving your sentence more onerous than for a person without those impairments and background. However, the sustained nature and seriousness of your offending against three separate victims requires a substantial term of incarceration.
16. I sentence you as follows.
17. On Charge 1, which is a rolled-up charge, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for nine months.
18. On Charge 2, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for 16 months.
19. On Charge 3, which is a rolled-up charge, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for two years.
20. On Charge 4, which is a rolled-up charge, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for four years.
21. On Charge 5, which is a rolled-up charge, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for two years and six months.
22. On Charge 6, which is a rolled-up charge, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for nine months.

23. On Charge 7, which involves a large mass of child abuse material of varying degrees of seriousness, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for three years.
24. I treat the sentence on Charge 4 of imprisonment for four years as the base and order that one month of the sentence on Charge 1, two months of the sentence on Charge 3, eight months of the sentence on Charge 5, one month of the sentence on Charge 6 and 12 months of the sentence on Charge 7 be served cumulatively upon one another and upon the sentence on Charge 4.
25. The total effective sentence is therefore imprisonment for six years and I fix a non-parole period of three years and eight months.
26. I declare 488 days pre-sentence detention as time to be reckoned as served on the sentence that I have imposed.
27. On Charges 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, I sentence you as a serious sex offender. But balancing the need for a sentence that prioritises protection of the public against the need to give proper weight to your relative youth and other matters personal to you, along with application of the totality and proportionality principles to achieve a just sentence, persuades me to refrain from ordering more substantial cumulation than that I have pronounced.
28. Further, the prosecution has not sought a disproportionate sentence.
29. You will be required to comply with the reporting requirements of the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 for life. You will be given a document setting out those obligations by my associate and you will be asked to sign for receipt of that document.
30. But for your pleas of guilty, I would have imposed a total effective sentence of imprisonment of eight years with a non-parole period of five years and four months.
31. Now counsel, are there any other matters that I need to deal with or matters that I have got wrong in law?
32. MS TEMPERLEY: Just the question of forfeiture. I don't recall whether we - there was forfeiture on the last occasion of the devices, but that would be the only matter outstanding.
33. HIS HONOUR: Yes. Have we got a forfeiture order?
34. MS TEMPERLEY: There's no objection obviously to forfeiture.
35. HIS HONOUR: Yes. So what was the - forfeiture of the - - -
36. MS TEMPERLEY: I think it was the various hard drives and phones, et cetera.
37. HIS HONOUR: The electronic devices, yes.
38. MR PIRRIE: The electronic equipment.
39. MS TEMPERLEY: Yes, the electronic devices. I just - - -
40. HIS HONOUR: Have we got a draft of that order Mr Pirrie? Yes I had completely forgotten that.
41. MR PIRRIE: I'll have my instructing solicitor send a draft to - - -
42. HIS HONOUR: Yes.
43. MR PIRRIE: - - - Your Honour's associate.
44. HIS HONOUR: Well if you make sure that - - -
45. MR PIRRIE: My learned friend's copied into it.
46. HIS HONOUR: - - - Ms Temperley gets copied it first and - - -
47. MR PIRRIE: Yes.
48. HIS HONOUR: - - - if she's happy with the content of it, then - she can object if she's not happy, but otherwise I'll sign it.
49. MR PIRRIE: As Your Honour pleases.
50. MS TEMPERLEY: Thank you, Your Honour. As the court pleases.
51. HIS HONOUR: Yes, Ms Temperley, if you wouldn't mind just supervising your client signing the - - -
52. MS TEMPERLEY: No problem at all, thank you, Your Honour.
53. HIS HONOUR: - - - acknowledgement in relation to the Sex Offender Registration Act.
54. MS TEMPERLEY: He's aware it's coming, yes.
55. HIS HONOUR: Yes, thank you.