7 years for doubtful photo business on the Net
Date: May 14, 2004Source: Computer Crime Research Center
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The court is at a loss how a father of four children could store such materials on CD-roms, some of which depicted sadistic treatment of minors.
Examination revealed many pictures with his naked daughter and the criminal having sex with her as she slept. The man pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse with his daughter without consent, seven counts of indecent assault, eight counts of inciting the same victim to commit indecent acts and possession of child pornography.
His collection went undetected until another daughter came under police suspicion over a stolen car. Fearing a police raid, he boxed up the illegal collection and offloaded it to a neighbour, who in turn alerted police.
The court was told the victim lived with her mother but most of the abuse occurred during the father's family access visits over three years until March last year. Judge Joe Phelan outlined how the man got his daughter to pose naked on various occasions so he could give the photos to a man in the Netherlands to repay a debt.
He initially denied sexually interfering with the girl, but investigators studied his CD-rom album of sexual abuse and found pictures of her naked and a series of photos of him abusing her with his finger as she slept on a lounge.
"He admitted to having taken naked photos of his youngest daughter," Judge Phelan said. "He claimed he took the photographs from an artistic rather than a sexual perspective."
The court was told the man had previously worked as a professional photographer for a modelling agency. He first came across child pornography on the internet four or five years ago and "it became like a drug, he wanted to see more," Judge Phelan said.
He later came in contact with an internet group seeking pictures of young children. A man in Amsterdam loaned the father money for a photography business but later requested explicit pictures of his daughter.
While in jail awaiting sentence last month, the man wrote a letter to his son, stating another of his children had obtained the Dutchman's address and some "program codes" from a notebook, saying he wanted to "set up the company again".
The letter raised doubts about the man's chances of rehabilitation and level of contrition, Judge Phelan said. The man mostly sat motionless during the sentencing, his head bowed.
Defence counsel Peter Pearsall earlier said the digital penetration involved in the main assault was minimal, there was no evidence of injury and the victim had no recollection of it because she was asleep.
The prisoner has been in protective custody since March last year and his cumulative sentence for the various offences expires in 2010. He will be eligible for parole in March 2007.
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