DPP v Talbot

co-accused Melissa McIntosh[3] who is contesting the charges. The other two victims are your daughter Brisa[4] who was aged five at the time of the offending against her, and your daughter Morgan Talbot[5] who was almost

eight years old at the time of the offending alleged against her.

4 Morgan and Brisa are your daughters by your former partner, Regina Fox[6]. You shared custody with your daughters where they spend time with you and Ms McIntosh over the weekends.

5 On 7 March 2020 at about 9.30 in the evening, you and McIntosh took Steven to your bedroom, placing him on a towel on the bed and removing his clothes. McIntosh held Steven face down on the towel and you penetrated his anus with your penis. These actions underly Charge 3 on the indictment, sexual penetration of a child or lineal descendant, that is incest.

6 At the same time, you used your phone to take two images of yourself penetrating Steven, which images were timestamped as at 9.35 am [sic]. That action is part of rolled up Charge 1, producing child abuse material.

7 On Friday, 2 July 2020, Morgan and Brisa were staying over with you and McIntosh. That evening McIntosh sent a series of text messages to her friend asking what she used to get her children to sleep, the friend replying Melatonin or Fergin[sic]. McIntosh asked if the friend could bring some over 'to see if it works and [William] said he will give you some cash if that's okay?' The Melatonin was delivered to McIntosh at her house sometime after 9 pm, the friend also providing a small syringe and explaining how to use it. At some point after that you administered the Melatonin to both Morgan and Brisa, these actions underlying Charges 4 and 6 on the indictment, administering an intoxicating substance for a sexual purpose.

8 Soon after midnight on 3 July 2020, you and McIntosh established by text message that the girls had fallen asleep in the lounge room. Over the next hour and 46 minutes, between 1 am and 2.57 am you sexually assaulted both girls on the mattress in the lounge room, by inserting your fingers into the vaginas of each. These actions underly Charge 5, incest of Morgan and Charge 7, incest of Brisa.

9 You tied a white electric cable around Brisa's ankle restraining her to the bed and at some point, used adhesive tape to hold open her labia. In so doing, you further penetrated her vagina, that action underlying Charge 8 on the indictment.

10 During the offending you took at least 24 images and one video on your mobile phone depicting the genitals of both girls, including images of genitals held open with adhesive tape. These actions also comprise part of rolled up Charge 1, producing child abuse material.

11 Police received information you had uploaded child abuse material to Snapchat and on March 10 2021, executed a search warrant in your home in Cranbourne, at which time you and McIntosh were present. Police seized a number of electronic devices including an OPPO R15 mobile phone, a blue ACER laptop and three Lenovo laptops.

12 In your record of interview with police you denied sharing the Snapchat images, could not explain why your Snapchat account on which the child abuse material was displayed was linked to your phone and email, the account name being [omitted], denied your phone would contain images of you with children and denied creating the account, stating that other people have asked to use your phone and had done so.

13 On the OPPO mobile phone investigators located (a), 211 images and one video depicting child abuse material, category 1 or pre-pubescent children and babies being anally, orally and vaginally penetrated by adults, as well as images focussing on the genital area of pre-pubescent female children. Included in these images were (1), a still from a video taken in the same location and time as the series of 24 images depicting your daughters being sexually assaulted on 3 July 2020. That still depicted a close-up image of a pre-pubescent child lying on a mattress with her legs apart, her vagina being the central focal part of the image; (2), a still taken from a video of Morgan and Brisa face down on a doona with their buttocks and vaginas exposed which was also located on the dark web. (b), 76 images and 13 videos depicting other child abuse material, category 2, comprising images of naked children, in particular a very large number of female infants with their vaginas visible.

14 They also included computer generated images of infants being sexually penetrated or sexually abused, and included computer generated images of a female child being restrained to her bed by her ankles, by two adult males with erect penises and an adult female. (c), the phone also contained the following programs. (1), the Tor browser which is designed for anonymous web surfing and protection against traffic analysis, which is required for access to the dark web. (2), Signal across platform centralising crypted instant messaging service by which users can send one-to-one and group messages including files, voice notes, images and videos. (3), Wicca, and instant messenger application, allowing users to exchange encrypted and content expiry messages, including videos, photographs and file attachments.

15 (4), Discord, an instant messaging and digital distribution platform, allowing users to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats. (5), Tunnel Bear, a virtual private network enabling users to mask their IP addresses when visiting websites. (6), Mega, a user controlled encrypted cloud storage app. (d), a search of your phone's internet browser history revealed almost daily access to pornography related websites entitled, paedo pictures, father and daughter pictures, toddler pictures, JB jail gate, teen photo sets, incest mother and incest paedophilia.

16 On the ACER laptop, investigators located 565 images and 193 videos, depicting Interpol baseline child abuse material, category 1, being images and videos of pre-pubescent children and babies, being anally, orally and vaginally penetrated by adults and images focussed on the genital area of pre-pubescent children. Included among those images was a series of 24 images depicting Morgan and Brisa being sexually assaulted on 3 July 2020.

17 The investigators also located 1,110 images and 19 videos depicting other child abuse material, category 2, of naked children, in particular a very large number of female infants where their vaginas were visible, as well as computer-generated images of infants being sexually penetrated or sexually abused.

18 On 6 August 2021, police executed a second search warrant at your premises, at which time Child Protection attended and Steven was removed from the care of yourself and McIntosh. Police seized a Telstra ZTE Blade mobile phone belonging to you on which was located, (a), 14 images containing Interpol baseline child abuse material category of the nature previously described; and (b), three images depicting other child abuse material, category 2, which was set naked children in sexual poses and cartoon images of children engaging in sexual acts with each other.

19 The devices seized on the two occasions contained a total of 1,979 photographs and 226 videos. The possession of these underlies Charge 9, possession of child abuse material.

20 Subsequent police enquiries showed you had uplifted six images identified as child abuse material and these actions underly Charge 2 on the indictment, distributing child abuse material. Those images were (a), an image of an erect penis about 2-3 centimetres from the vagina of an infant. (b), an image of a young female aged between three and six holding an erect adult penis. (c), an image located on the dark web depicting your son being anally penetrated by you at which time both your hands and those of McIntosh are seen on Steven's bottom, lower back area. (d), an image located on the dark web depicting Brisa sitting on a chair wearing a nighty but no underwear with her legs open and her vagina clearly visible. (e), an image located on the dark web and on your laptop, depicting a close-up image focussing on the vagina and anus of Brisa lying face down and wearing blue underwear with a split cut int the crotch area and your hand holding her labia open. (f), an imaged located on the dark web and on your laptop, depicting Brisa wearing blue underwear with a split cut in the crotch area, lying face down with white electrical cables tied around her left ankle. Her legs were spread wide exposing her buttocks.

21 You were again arrested on 11 August 2021 and in a record of interview with police; (a), denied viewing or accessing child pornography; (b); denied allegations to images of children engaging in sexual acts with each other, in fact professing disgust about this to police; (c) said your laptop belonged to a friend who had placed 'heaps of shit on it'; (d), said you think you gave away the

OPPO R15 phone; (e), said the white cable ties were used by you and McIntosh in sexual activity; (f), said that Brisa and Morgan stayed overnight once a fortnight or once a month; (g), denied ever taking sexual photographs of children; (h), said you wish you knew how the photographs got onto your devices, stating, 'Who the fuck's done this to me and why? That's what's going through my head.' Question and Answer 647. (i), denied every possessing online photographs of children engaging in sex or sexual poses, and; (j) denied every sexually penetrating either your son or daughters.

22 You were remanded in custody where you have remained since.

23 The maximum penalty for incest is 25 years' imprisonment with a standard sentence of 10 years' imprisonment.

24 The maximum penalty for administering a drug for sexual purposes is 10 years' imprisonment, as is the maximum penalty for producing child abuse material, distributing child abuse material and possessing child abuse material.

25 Incest is a category 1 offence, requiring the imposition of a term of imprisonment not involving a Community Corrections Order unless exceptions pursuant to 2G of the Sentencing Act apply.

26 Each of the sentences is a serious offence pursuant to Schedule 2 of the Sentencing Act, so that the sexual offender provisions may apply if the offender is sentenced to a term of imprisonment for two or more of the charges on the indictment.

27 Having pleaded guilty to four class 1 offences and six class 2 offences, you are to be registered on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

28 This matter settled to a plea of guilty on May 6 2022 at a committal mention.

30 You are 34 years old, the second of four children, including two half-siblings. You have an older brother who is six years older than you. Your father who is in his 50s is serving a term of imprisonment in South Australia for threatening police and you told forensic psychiatrist Dr Prashant Pandurangi whose report dated 14 March 2022 was tendered on the plea, that he moved there to avoid being arrested in Victoria. You last spoke to him about four years ago.

31 Your mother is 60, lives in Hampton Park and is a carer for your youngest daughter. You speak to her regularly. She suffers from a chronic respiratory condition and used to work as a supervisor for disability services.

32 When you were a child, your family moved frequently due to your father's aggression towards you. You recall daily beatings at his hands in your childhood from about the age of three. Your mother often tried to separate from him, eventually achieving this when you were seven. However, he continued to pursue your family through your primary school years. You recall moving

about 15 times in order to avoid him, and attending six primary schools. You spent those years in fear that your father would kidnap you from school.

33 At age 8, you were diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Ritalin and then Epilim. When you were 10 your older brother began sexually abusing you. He showed you a pornographic magazine, then threatened to 'tell on you' effectively blackmailing you into doing what he wanted. This occurred about three times while you were living with your mother, but after about 1999-2000 you were sent to live with your grandmother for reasons you do not recall, and the abuse here occurred regularly and occurred both oral and penetrative abuse. You told your mother who did not believe you. Then your brother moved away after that year and the abuse stopped.

34 By 2000 your father had stopped pursuing the family. By 2002, you had been expelled from school for disruptive behaviour in Year 8. You then attended a technical school, which was a self-paced learning environment which you attended four days a week and where you learnt nothing. In Year 9 you had a relationship with a girlfriend who died in a car accident, plunging you into a deep depression and you lost all interest in school and dropped out.

35 Your mother re-enrolled you at another high school, but you lasted only a matter of weeks. Eventually you completed Year 10 at another secondary college. You then undertook an automotive pre-apprenticeship at the age of 16, by which stage you were regularly using drugs. The drug use began in about 2000, when you found a bag of white powder at school which was probably speed. You began smoking cannabis at age 13 a drug with which you have had dependency difficulties up until your remand for the current offending. You have always used at least about an ounce of cannabis per week.

36 In your late teens you moved to Queensland with a girlfriend, with whom you had begun a relationship. The two of you regularly using ice, but more in the form of binging and then abstaining. In Queensland you worked in a pizza and fish and chip shop and undertook some automobile transmission work. At the same time, you and your girlfriend semi-adopted a young ward of state, Michael[7].

37 You returned to Victoria in 2008 with your girlfriend and Michael all living together in the same house. Your relationship with that partner ended 2009 and Michael went to live at your mother's house. He is now a youth counsellor but has had no contact with you since you were charged with these offences.

38 In 2009, you began a relationship with the mother of your two daughters. The two of you moved to a house in Craigieburn[8]. Between 2009 and 2015 you were largely unemployed, going from job to job here and there.

39 Your first child was born in 2011 and because your girlfriend came from a religious family the two of you married in 2012. Around this time, you began using ice again in the same form, that is binging and then abstaining. You and your partner had been living in stable rented accommodation, but at the end of 2014 your lease was not renewed and your partner was then pregnant with your second daughter.

40 You turned to a housing service but were forced to move to Morwell, in order to find a boarding house that accepted couples and children. You moved there in 2015 but became very depressed living in Morwell and began using ice seriously and regularly as opposed to binging and abstaining and this remained the case until your arrest.

41 In May 2015, your second daughter was born and later that year you and your partner and children moved to a private rental. In 2016 you tried to set up a business in property maintenance, but were only able to attract a handful of clients. In 2017, you met the co-accused, the mother of your son through your mutual ice use.

42 You began an affair with her and this led to the end of your relationship with your daughters' mother. You lived in a friend's house, then in 2018 your daughters' mother moved to Craigieburn and you and your partner also moved there in order for you to be near your daughters. Your daughters' mother was able to find a private rental and you took over her house when she moved. You were then evicted due to noise complaints and you and your partner lived in a caravan. The two of you engaged in daily ice and cannabis use.

43 You claim that around the time of this offending you were given a clear liquid in a shot glass, which you now believe to have been GHB and also claim that your memory of this period was poor. You believe that the offending against your children occurred at that time. You had regular contact with your daughters on a weekend or bi-weekend basis.

44 You have a criminal conviction record going back to 2011, when you were placed on an intensive corrections order on charges of reckless conduct endangering serious injury, dangerous driving and other driving offences. In that same year you were fined for two thefts. Then in 2012, the intensive corrections order was breached due to your failure to comply with conditions.

45 You received an adjourned undertaking to be of good behaviour on charges of criminal damage and unlawful assault in 2014. Later that year you were placed on a 12-month Community Corrections Order on charges of being a prohibited person possessing a firearm. Possessing a prohibited weapon without exemption or approval. Possessing cartridge material, careless driving and dangerous driving. You received a further Community Corrections Order on October 2015 on a charge of driving whilst disqualified.

46 In 2016, you received another Community Corrections Order on charges of recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault, discharging a missile and driving whilst disqualified. That order was breached in 2016 and no further action taken. It was further breached again in 2017 and the order varied to include extra unpaid community work and conditions to undergo assessment and treatment for drug use. You were dealt with again for breach of Community Corrections Order in 2019, and the order was extended for 12 months.

47 In February 2021 you received a 12 month Community Corrections Order on charges of threatening to destroy property, driving whilst disqualified, recklessly causing injury, making a threat to kill, criminal damage, unlawful assault, intentionally damage property and failing to provide an oral fluid test within three hours of driving.

48 On the same date, your previous Community Corrections Order was breached and the order confirmed. Your remand in custody in relation to this offending is your first experience of gaol. Your counsel did not submit that anything other than a term of imprisonment to immediately served was appropriate in your case. As I have said you have denied any memory of the offending against your children.

49 I received victim impact statements from your daughters' mother as well as each of your daughters. Fortunately, neither child has any recollection of sexual abuse you committed against her. The victim impact statements of each little girl comprises reports of the result of an interview between them and a family violence manager. Your daughter Morgan told the case manager she was sad that you were going away, saying that you were a nice person. Your daughter Brisa pointed to a sad cue card when asked how she felt when you went away.

50 Their mother wrote in her victim impact statement that she was confused and in disbelief when she heard of the offending as she never thought you would be capable of such crimes, because you seem to have such a good relationship with the girls and had strong views against child abuse.

51 As a result of your offending the girls were removed from her care pending an investigation from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, to ensure she was not involved and did not know anything about the crimes. She said she couch surfed for six weeks so the girls could stay in their house during which she could spend one hour with them four days a week. She wrote that she felt huge guilt at not knowing the offending was occurring. She said she had to move herself and the girls to a new town where no one knew what had happened, as she did not want her daughters talked about, did not want to risk going down the street and bumping into people she knew or knew you and having to answer their questions.

52 She said after the crimes she found herself questioning everything and her own judgement and that she now lacked trust in other people around the girls and feared losing them DFFH again due to false accusations. Moving to a new town cost her financially and she had to attend multiple appointments to prepare for court involving a lengthy drive to and from home.

53 In one of those appointments, the opening prosecution's statement was read to her, which she said was extremely hard to hear, but she said she felt she needed to know to prepare herself in the case the girls ever remembered anything at all. She has also had to attend appointments with Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre with counsellors which had been overwhelming.

54 Regina has been informed that counselling and unlocking the girl's memory would be unethical at this point in their lives. She has organised play therapy for them, involving further driving and causing their absence from school

55 In their victim impact statements, both girls said they were happy in their new home and town. Regina stated, 'I'm left with an overwhelming responsibility to support the girls through this and I'm still unsure on what to expect if they do remember, and how this will impact them emotionally or physically in the future'.

56 In his report Dr Pandurangi said a mental examination view and interview in custody did not evidence any sad or low mood or suggestion that you were generally anxious. He said there was no evidence of depressive condition such as worthlessness and you denied thoughts of self-harm or suicide. It was his opinion, you were a young man whose formative years were characterised by significant trauma, witnessing domestic violence and physical abuse perpetrated by your father. He noted that your family lived in constant fear of your father and were moved repeatedly. You appeared to have a good attachment to your mother, but he noticed your anxious condition was exacerbated further, by the abuse you received at your brother's hands and which your mother did not believe had occurred.

57 He said there were no indications you had received any assistance to deal with the trauma of the sexual abuse you endured and your late teens were marred by illicit drug use and contact with the criminal justice system. Dr Pandurangi said the period leading to this offending was characterised by an unstable relationship, periods of employment, and ongoing use of illicit drugs. He said the emotional trauma you experienced over long periods during your critical formative years was likely to have formed a sense of general mistrust, anger at others and insecurity at times of distress. However, he did not find that your personality problems would reach a threshold to warrant a diagnosis of personality disorder.

58 You did not indicate a sense of hypervigilance usually associated with severe anxiety and paranoia as a result of past traumatic events. Nor did you present with ongoing feelings of shame or guilt. There was no history of depressive disorders, although you did report experiencing depressive symptoms during your current incarceration. He said the nature of your offending raised the possibility of an underlying paedophilic disorder but it was difficult to confirm such a diagnosis as you deny experiencing sexual arousal from deviant fantasies involving pre-pubescent children despite the objective evidence.

59 He noted that you have either denied committing some of the offences or reported a lack of recollection of the offending which you said may be borne out of shame or guilt about that offending. He also opined that it is possible you may be open about your underlying motivations for the offending in a more therapeutic setting once you are sentenced. Dr Pandurangi said that from available information the potential sexual interest in pre-pubescent children combined with the disinhibiting effects of illicit drugs provided some explanation for your offending.

60 Dr Pandurangi's testing for the risk of re-offending placed you in the moderate to high category over the medium to long-term weeks or months if underlying risk factors remain unaddressed. He did not find you were finding incarceration more difficult compared to other prisoners, or that there was any indication your mental health had deteriorated since being incarcerated.

61 The prosecution submitted that Charge 3 involving your six-month-old son, was a highly aggravated offence of incest, whereby you exploited your relationship as Steven's father and carer to sexually abuse him at an age when Steven was completely vulnerable and dependant on his parents. He submitted the offending was further aggravated by the fact that you took photographs depicting your abuse of Steven and uploaded them to the internet.

62 The prosecutor also submitted that Charges 5, 7 and 8 relating to your daughters, were highly aggravated offences of incest, involving restraint and adhesive tape in relation to Brisa and because you planned, obtained and administered a drug for the purpose of causing the children to fall asleep to enable your abuse, which took place over an hour and 46 minutes. Again, this offending was aggravated by you recording it, storing photographs and uploading them to the internet.

63 The prosecutor submitted there was a presumption of harm to children who are the victims of sexual abuse, although it is impossible to quantify the long-term effects of this conduct on your daughters. You submitted the circumstances of the offending which involved planning, deliberation and the taking, saving and uploading of photographs of the abuse made it extremely unlikely that your claimed loss of memory was true. In fact, he submitted that I should find this was a lie. The pictures on the internet relating to your son and daughters will remain there indefinitely.

64 The prosecutor also pointed to the applications you had on your electronic devices which allowed for access to the dark web and obfuscation of your identity as a user. He submitted your assertion that you had no knowledge of the child abuse material on your devices could not be accepted and was plainly a lie. He retreated from a submission that this offending fell into the highest category in the range of seriousness for offending of this type, but nevertheless, submitted this was extremely serious offending, bringing into play sentencing principles such as denunciation, condign punishments, specific deterrence and general deterrence as prominent in the sentencing exercise before me.

65 Defence counsel submitted that the offending against your daughters comprised a period of time of offending and that the evidence was that otherwise you were a supportive father. You had no relevant priors and you pleaded guilty at an early opportunity. He said your life had been marred by abuse and poverty. Mr Mortley submitted that the applications found on your electronic devices, were easy to download although he did concede they could work to obfuscate where a person came from. He submitted that use of these applications demonstrated a moderate degree of sophistication in your offending, in that you were aware of those applications and attempted to disguise your identity.

66 Ultimately, this was with a submission with which the prosecution agreed.

Mr Mortley submitted in relation generally, your instructions of having no memory of this offending related to a specific period of time in which that offending occurred. In other words, he was saying that the material showed that there was a start and an end time to your offending or the offending which underlies these charges.

67 Overall Mr Mortley submitted I should take into account your traumatic and chaotic upbringing which involved displacement and physical and sexual abuse. He submitted that while you proffered no explanation for the offending,

Dr Pandurangi had stated some explanation may lie in you having potential sexual interest in pre-pubescent children which came to the fall when combined with the disinhibiting effects of illicit drugs.

68 Mr Mortley submitted you are entitled to some discount due to your early plea of guilty prior to committal, for acceptance of the evidence and the utilitarian value of an early plea, which was particularly the case in relation to the charges involving the administration of a sedating drug, a possible argument lying in the fact that Melatonin may not fit the category of the substance envisaged in the legislation. He conceded that you fall to be sentenced as a serious sexual offender, so that protection of the community must be the primary sentencing consideration. You have remained in custody since 11 August 2021. I do note that on 11 May 2022, you received a sentence for unrelated offending of

69 I was referred to a sentence of DPP v McKinley (a Pseudonym), the sentence of Her Honour Judge Chambers of this court delivered on 23 November 2022. That case involved one victim being the infant daughter of the offender who was minding her, and offended against her over an almost 12 month period during which time the victim was under 12 months of age. That offender sexually penetrated his daughter and took a large number of images and photographs of her, and undertook other activities, such as masturbating and ejaculating over her. The conduct there involved multiple sexual assaults, and the offending whilst involving only one victim, also involved a far greater number of sexual assaults against the victim than your offending against your three children.

70 That offender also had a very difficult childhood where he was sexually assaulted by his father, but he did admit his offending and he entered into discussion about it with a psychologist. In that case, Her Honour applied the principles underlying Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37; [2013] 249 CLR 571, and whilst not finding evidence that the childhood experiences of the accused in that case were causally connected to his offending, she accept[sic] his childhood had been marked by significant abuse. Further there was psychological evidence that the accused suffered an adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood and that he had further demonstrated a willingness to engage in psychological treatment.

71 Aggravating features of that offending were described by Her Honour as the exploitation of the extreme vulnerability of his infant daughter in penetrating her, 'Coupled with multiple acts of appalling sexual assaults upon her over a prolonged period, all the while capturing these offences on film.' Ultimately, the offender was sentenced to a total effective sentence of 11 years and

eight months' imprisonment, with a minimum term of seven years before becoming eligible for parole.

72 I note, in this case, as was the case in McKinley, the standard sentence for incest is a period of 10 years. There are differences in McKinley's case and yours. It is clear the offending against the victim in that case was of a more prolonged nature. Your offending however, involved all three of your children. In her reason for the sentence Judge Chambers also placed some emphasis on the youth of the offender in that case, he being aged between 21-22 years at the time. In other words, he was a great deal younger than you at the time of the offending.

73 There are a number of difficulties attached to sentencing you. Insofar as your daughters are concerned, I accept that according to their victim impact statements, you were well regarded by them. It would be hoped that they never become aware of the offending you have perpetrated against them, although this is a scenario that, although devoutly to be wished for, cannot be guaranteed. The offending against your daughters was depraved,

self-indulgent and callous. I am satisfied that the fact that you filmed and photographed your daughters in the positions they were in, and then uploaded that material to the internet is an aggravating feature of the offending.

74 I do take into account it involved a specific period of time, but equally the offending against your infant son was depraved and a gross violation of his vulnerability and utter dependency upon you and his mother. Again, the fact that you filmed this activity and uploaded it to the internet, is appalling offending, bespeaking an utter disregard for the welfare of your son and your duties as his father.

75 You also possessed a wide array of child abuse material of the basest kind, the production of which often involves children born in extremely disadvantaged circumstances, whose difficult lives are then rendered even more untenable by their sexual exploitation. It is clear that person such as yourself who download and store such material must be deterred from their support of this appalling industry.

76 I am unable to accept your assertion of loss of memory of this offending, especially given the deliberate actions required in order for you to download and use the applications readily available though they may have been, and then to film your sexual misconduct against your children and upload it to the internet including the dark web.

77 You are not a youthful offender as was the offender, McKinley. He also had no prior convictions. I accept that your prior convictions are not similar to the offending for which I must sentence you, but you do have a criminal record of some length and throughout it have demonstrated an inability to complete any of plethora of Community Corrections Orders, including the one on which you were placed at the time of the offending, and this does not speak well as to your character generally.

78 Despite the fact that your plea of guilty was an early one and that you are entitled to more than the utilitarian value of it, given the current scenario, whereby the court is seeking to work its way through a backlog of trials caused by the pandemic restrictions, I am unable to find it evinces any indication of remorse by you. I must conclude you have no insight into this offending, which you resolutely deny and yet which is strongly evidenced by the material you yourself created.

79 It would seem through the offending against your children and the nature of the child abuse material found in your possession, that you do suffer some form of paedophilic disorder, so the protection of the community is in my view, a dominating factor in the sentencing principle I must apply in your case.

80 It is to be hoped that you do come to terms with what you have done and what is clearly in my view, a deviant sexual arousal to children in you, so that the programs hopefully administered to you in custody will have some effect. I can only act however on the scenario presented before me, which is that despite the strongest possible evidence of your offending, you fail to acknowledge it, so that I cannot find any mitigatory responses in you, such as remorse and concern.

81 I must also sentence you in a way which amounts to a denunciation of this appalling conduct and the gross breaches of the duty of care you displayed in relation to all three of the children and sentence you in a way which is likely to deter other persons bent on offending against children in this dreadful fashion and indeed to deter you against offending in this way.

82 As I have hopefully indicated in sentencing you, I do take into account your plea of guilty, it's more than utilitarian value in post-COVID times and your extremely difficult upbringing, and find that it equates to that described by the High Court in Bugmy. I am unable to find that any of the principles enunciated in Verdins have application to your case. I therefore sentence you as follows.

92 The base sentence will be the sentence imposed on Charge 7. I order that

six months of the sentence imposed on Charges 1 and 2, four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 4, just excuse me, sorry. Five months of the sentence - sorry, four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 4, 12 months of the sentence imposed on Charge 5, four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 6, 12 months of the sentence imposed on Charge 7, four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 8, and four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 9, be served cumulatively to the sentence imposed on Charge 7 and to each other.

93 That gives a total effective sentence of 11 years and two months. Can I make the point that I have given very little - lesser cumulation deliberately in relation to Charges 7 and 8. Just let me check that that's right. I think I've - I'm sorry I think that might be wrong, sorry. No, that's correct. So, 11 years and

two months, I order that you serve eight years before becoming eligible for parole. What is the PSD please?

94 PROSECUTOR: Your Honour updated PSD is 514 days.

95 HER HONOUR: I declare that 514 days of that sentence have been served by way of pre-sentence detention. I know there are disposal orders that I need to sign, I think?

96 PROSECUTOR: No, Your Honour given the co-accused is proceeding to trial, all exhibits will remain.

97 HER HONOUR: All right, no problem, thank you. Pursuant to s6AAA I declare that had you not pleaded guilty I would have sentenced you to a term of

12 years with a minimum term of nine years. Thank you. We'll stand down. Thank you very much.