A 27-year-old Perth man has been sentenced to one year in jail after being convicted over the possession of a large amount of child abuse imagery and the importation of a child-like sex doll.
The man first came to the attention of the Australian Border Force (ABF) on 17 September 2019, when officers at the Sydney Gateway Facility intercepted a parcel from Hong Kong addressed to the man’s residence in the Perth suburb of Bicton.
The parcel contained the bottom half of a silicone female child-like sex doll.
On 21 November 2019, ABF officers at Perth International Airport seized the man’s mobile phone as he departed for a holiday in Thailand.
A subsequent electronic examination of the phone located 1,199 images and 72 videos categorised as child abuse material.
On 29 November 2019, a search warrant was executed on the man’s home where ABF officers seized a laptop and external hard drive that were both found to contain child abuse material.
Those items were referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for investigation.
AFP officers located 386 images on the laptop, and 833 images and three videos on the external hard drive, all of which depicted child abuse material.
The man was then arrested by ABF Investigators at Perth Airport on 2 December 2019 when he returned from his holiday.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to four charges:
◦One count of Importing Tier 2 goods, namely child abuse material, being one child sex doll part, in contravention of Section 233BAB(5) of the Customs Act 1901 (ABF).
◦One count of attempting to Export a Prohibited Import being Tier 2 goods (Child Abuse Material) under Section 233BAB(6) of the Customs Act 1901 (ABF).
◦Two counts of possessed child abuse material and used a carriage service to access the material contrary to section 474.22A(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth) (AFP).
Yesterday (13 October) Perth District Court Judge Stephen Lemonis sentenced the man to a head sentence of one-year imprisonment, to be released after four months on a $3,000 recognizance release order to be of good behaviour, and on the condition that he continues with his behavioural treatment programmes.
ABF Acting Commander of Investigations, Nicholas Walker, said tackling child abuse material is an operational priority for the ABF as part of its role in protecting the border from individuals who may pose a threat to the community.
“Child-like sex dolls are a form of child abuse material that the ABF is determined to prevent from crossing our border,” Acting Commander Walker said.
“ABF officers utilise a range of powers at the border in order to detect and seize any form of child abuse material.
“These offences are viewed very seriously, with the maximum penalty for the import or export of child abuse material being 10 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $555,000.
“The ABF is proud to be a partner agency of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), which combines the capability of federal, state and territory, non-government agencies and private industry to counter the increasing threat of child exploitation.”
**The initial ABF media release about this case from December 2019, which includes arrest imagery, can be viewed here.
