A 43-year-old Melbourne man has been sentenced in the Melbourne County Court today (16 October 2020) for possessing hundreds of photographs depicting child abuse, including homemade content.
The Victorian Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (VIC JACET) charged the man on 19 September 2019, after executing a search warrant at his Blackburn residence.
The investigation and subsequent arrest was sparked by a report from the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) after an alert was raised by authorities in the US about a license holder of photographic software.
The AFP were able to trace the report back to the Melbourne man’s address.
The 43-year-old pleaded guilty to two offences, which included a charge after it was found he had superimposed the face of another underage person onto existing images of child exploitation material.
Today, he was sentenced to two months’ jail for:
- One count of producing child abuse material, contrary to section 51C(1) of the Crimes Act 1958 (VIC); and
- One count of knowingly possessing child abuse material, contrary to section 51G(1) of the Crimes Act 1958 (VIC).
In addition to the two months’ imprisonment; the man was sentenced to 100 hours of community work and handed a two year Community Correction Order.
VIC JACET comprises members of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Victoria Police.
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