CDirector of Public Prosecutions v Asplet

[2025] VCC 1636

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Revised
Not Restricted
 Suitable for Publication

Case No. CR-25-00490

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

(CTH)

v

CODY ASPLET

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE BRECKWEG
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	17 September 2025
DATE OF SENTENCE:	11 November 2025
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	CDPP v Asplet
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 1636

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:SENTENCE- Criminal Law

Catchwords:              using a carriage service to advertise child abuse material - using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material and cause child abuse material to be transmitted to himself - use a carriage service to cause offence - using a carriage service to access child abuse material – Bestiality - possess or control child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service - Paedophilic Disorder - Zoophilia

Legislation Cited:      Crimes Act1958 (Vic), Criminal Code (Cth)

Cases Cited:R v Coffey (2003) 6 VR 543; R v Oliver [2003] 1 Cr App R 28; R v Howe [2017] QCA 7; DPP (Cth) v Garside [2016] VSCA 74; R v De Leeuw [2015] NSWCCA 183; R v Richard [2011] NSWSC 866; Heels v The King [20254] VSCA 133; The Queenv Hancock [2011] NTCCA 14; Meadows v The Queen [2017] VSCA 290; R v Edwards[2019] QCA 15; Gajjar v R (2008) 192 A Crim R 76; Heathcote (a pseudonym) v The Queen [2014] VSCA 35; DPP (Cth) v Knipe [2025] VSCA 228; R v Verdins; Buckley; Vo (2007) 16 VR 269

Sentence:                  Total effective Global Sentence is 5 years imprisonment; non parole period of 3 years and 2 months imprisonment; 5 days presentence detention; sex offender registration for life; 6AAA declaration – total effective head sentence of 6½ years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 4 years.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the DPP	Mr S. Hogan	Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions (C'th)
For the Accused	Mr M. Sturges Ms H. Fredericksen	Stary Law

HER HONOUR:

Introduction

1Cody Asplet, you have pleaded guilty to:

Charge 1: Use a carriage service to advertise child abuse material

Charge 2: Transmitting child abuse material and causing child abuse material to be transmitted to yourself

Charge 3: Use a carriage service to cause offence

Charge 4: Use a carriage service to access child abuse material

Charge 5: Bestiality

Charge 6: Use a carriage service to access child abuse material (second charge)

Charge 7: Possess or control child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service.

2Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment apart from Charges 3 and 5 which are punishable by a maximum penalty of five years 'imprisonment.

Circumstances of the offending

3The agreed facts of your offending are set out in the Summary of Prosecution Opening (Exhibit A). As an overview, between January 2022 and May 2024, you engaged in advertising, possessing and accessing child abuse material, and transmitting and causing child abuse material to be transmitted to you. You also committed the offences of bestiality and the offence of using a carriage service to cause offence. You mainly used the Telegram application with username 'southerntiger95' to share and receive child abuse material.

4During a search warrant at your residence, police seized your Apple iPhone Pro Max 13 mobile which, when it was forensically examined, revealed the offending.

Charge 1 – Advertise child abuse material

5Forensic analysis of your iPhone revealed that between 7 January 2022 and 14 May 2024, you used the X (formerly Twitter) application to advertise child abuse material. You did this by reposting images or videos originally posted to your public X profile, 'southerntigerrr' by other users, to all your followers and you made the material available to any other user who viewed your profile.

6During the charge period you reposted one video and four images of child abuse material. This included a video you reposted on around 7 January 2022 that depicted an adult male engaged in sexual penetrative activity with a male child aged approximately 12 to 15 and an image you reposted around 13 June 2022 depicting an adult male engaged in sexually penetrative activity with a child aged between the age of 10 and 15. Text was placed on the image, stating 'Warning this person is horny', 'Send cumshot videos with sound'.

7At the time of your arrest on 14 May 2024, all the material remained readily available.

Charge 2 – Use carriage service to transmit child abuse material, and cause child abuse material to be transmitted to yourself

8Analysis of your Telegram account revealed that you had privately communicated with several other users and during those conversations, you transmitted child abuse material to them in the form of text, images, and videos and caused them to transmit child abuse material to you. These conversations often covered topics such as a user's sexual preferences, the age and gender of children they were sexually attracted to, and the type of material they could provide you or were requesting from you, which included rape, and 'no limits'.

10During the lengthy period of 19 October 2022 to 12 April 2024, you had communications with 38 different Telegram users. On most occasions, once contact was established with another user either you or the other user would ask to swap or trade child abuse videos or images. For example, you started a conversation with Telegram user 'D L' and immediately advised them that you were interested in 'yng' (or young) material and asked whether they had any videos to share. You also commenced a conversation with another user by asking if he was a 'perv' and had videos to trade.

11In other cases, you or the other party would advise each other of the type of material you were most interested in for instance you told Telegram User 503 that you were interested in the sexual abuse of children, including violence against infants. You told one user that your preferred age ranges were '10 and under' and advised another that you were interested in 'no limits stuff'. On 4 June 2023, you started a conversation with Telegram User 'Alister' and advised him that your interests were 'yng and beast', being children and bestiality.19 You later started a conversation with another user asking if they had 'Yng necro' (being material involving deceased children). Upon confirmation, you requested the material be sent to you.

12During the charge period you also commented on the content of some videos you traded with others which included highlighting your favourite ones. The trading of child abuse material was often accompanied by highly sexually depraved written commentary where you and the other user described your deviant sexual fantasies and what you would like to do to a child. Much of this involved descriptions of inflicting gross sexual violence on children.

13Of the 38 users you communicated with, five involved communications via written or
text-based child abuse material and no images or videos were transmitted by or to you. In the case of one user, you sent one cartoon image. Of the remaining 32 users you communicated with, you sent around 70 child abuse images and approximately 746 videos to those users. You caused to be transmitted to yourself, or received, 290 child abuse videos and 22 child abuse images in exchange.

14This material contained a wide variety of depraved and abhorrent depictions of children including children aged between infants and 14 years, engaging in sexual activity with adults, children being raped and during one written conversation you discussed attending a children's hospital and engaging in sexual activity with the children there. On another occasion in a conversation with the same user he sent you three child abuse videos with one titled 'New Compilation of Rare Baby Toddler 0Yo'. You responded, 'God I can't wait till I'm left alone with a baby' and then transmitted one image and seven videos depicting child abuse material. You and that user also discussed watching videos in which children are physically tortured. You expressed an interest in travelling to a third world country to find an infant to inflict severe sexual violence upon and you both boasted that you could live a normal life while being 'twisted'.

Charge 3 – Use carriage service to cause offence

15Analysis of your Telegram account revealed that between 4 July 2023 and 14 March 2024 you privately conversed with other users during which you transmitted a variety of offensive material to them including material with elements of bestiality or necrophilia. You sent 261 offensive videos to nine users that featured adult males engaged in sexual activity with animals. In certain videos, the animals were either mutilated or deceased.

16For instance, on 23 July 2023, you commenced a conversation with Telegram User 'Wiktor' and immediately asked if he was interested in 'hard zoo' before advising that you had 'no limits'. On 31 July 2023, you transmitted 33 offensive videos to this user, depicting adult males engaging in sexual activity with animals. As a further example, from 22 November 2023 until 2 May 2024, you sent username 'BB' 35 offensive videos depicting adult males engaging in sexual activity with animals, including instances where animals were killed during the video.

Charge 4 – Use carriage service to access child abuse material

17On 21 July and on 28 August 2023, you used Telegram to access child abuse material that was transmitted to you by others, but which you had not expressly requested. On 21 July, you commenced a conversation with the user of a since-deleted Telegram account who sent who sent you one child abuse material video depicting a male anally penetrating a male child aged between three and five. On receipt, you said 'One of my favourite vids'.

18On 20 August 2023, you conversed with Telegram User 'King RJ' who sent you 11 child abuse material videos and one image depicting children aged between infants and 10 years old. In response to receiving this material you stated, 'Love a good reaction vid'

Charge 5 – Bestiality

19On 29 November 2023 you transmitted a video of you engaged in an act of bestiality with your own dog. In this video, you forced your penis into the dog's mouth.

Charge6 – Access child abuse material

20Analysis of your X (Twitter) account revealed that you had accessed child abuse material by viewing and 'liking' posts containing child abuse material that had been published by other users on X. Between 1 December 2023 and 15 March 2024 you 'liked' seven images depicting child abuse material, posted by various users on X. The images were CGI/anime generated child abuse and in one image 'Jocks & Tots' is written on the bottom right corner.

Charge 7 – Possess or control child abuse material

211,303 videos and 124 images depicting child abuse material were found on your iPhone. The material was predominantly sexual images of male children, infants to young teenagers, solo or engaged in sexual acts with adults. Other files depicted the offensive material referred to earlier.

Personal circumstances

22You have one older brother and three half siblings. Your parents separated when you were a toddler, and you were raised by your mother, with weekend visits with your father. Both your parents ultimately remarried and had further children. You told Dr Barth you had self-esteem issues and felt neglected by your family. You lived with your mother until you were 14 and went to reside with your father. You lived with your father for four years and left when you got a job working for your stepfather.

23 In terms of your education, you completed Year 12 with below average results and after beginning a degree in education you formed the view that further education was not for you. You have worked in several reception or administrative type roles.

24You had your first sexual experience when you were 16 and met an older male via social media but the experience was confusing and upsetting for you because the male was forceful and aggressive. From around 18, you began meeting with men and participating in positive casual sexual encounters.

25You were raped when you were 21 by a friend when you were intoxicated. He ignored your pleas for him to stop. You required several surgeries after this incident.

26You have had three main intimate relationships in your life. Most recently, you were in a relationship leading you to move from NSW to Victoria. You lived together in Victoria for around 18 months, and you worked in property management, but you ended the relationship as it was verbally and physically abusive and you returned to NSW.  You have been residing with your father and stepmother and working for their business in an administrative capacity. You have disclosed the offending to your parents and your stepmother. Your family remains supportive of you.

Character references

27Your mother Toni-lea Koutsioukis, provided a character reference on your behalf. She wrote that you have always had many friends, and you never had any issues at school, which has made your offending hard for her to accept. She said she was aware of the charges against you and that you have been open about answering any questions she has asked. She believes the counselling you have been undertaking has helped you tremendously and that you understand how vital it is. She will continue to support you and help you for as long as it takes.

28Your stepmother Michelle Asplet also provided a character reference for you. She said you were a great kid, always thoughtful and caring. She is aware of the charges against you, and she will continue to support you to make better life choices and reestablish yourself within the community. She said you remain very sorry and remorseful for your actions.

Sentencing Principles

29I have set out the sentencing principles governing the objective seriousness of offending involving child abuse material but I will not repeat those here.

30I have also had regard to the matters applicable in sentencing for Commonwealth offences. Section 16A(1) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) (the Act) provides that a court must impose a sentence that is of appropriate severity in all the circumstances of the offending and s16A(2) sets out a non-exhaustive list of factors that must be taken into account as far as these are relevant and known to the Court. I have had regard to the following factors set out in s16A(2):

16A(2)(a)  Nature and circumstances of the offences

31As your counsel accepted during the plea, your offending is very serious - indeed, horrendous and abhorrent.

32You have pleaded guilty to seven (7) charges that cover seven (7) different types of offending namely, advertising, transmitting, possessing and accessing child abuse material and causing this material to be transmitted to yourself. You also committed the offence of bestiality and used a carriage service to cause offence on multiple occasions.

33All charges except Charges 5 and 7 are 'rolled up' charges encompassing more than one separate act of criminality. Because most of the charges (except Charge 4) reflect many instances of offending, each capable of constituting a separate offence, the criminality involved in the charges is greater than with a charge involving only one episode of criminal conduct.[1]

[1] R v Richard [2011] NSWSC 866, at [65(f)]; R v De Leeuw [2015] NSWCCA 183, [116].

34Charge 2 is especially serious given it covers an 18-month period and is a rolled-up charge encompassing a significant number of separate instances of transmitting a large amount of child abuse material or causing it to be transmitted to yourself involving 38 individual users.

35You transmitted hundreds of child abuse videos to multiple other users thereby being an active and not simply passive participant in the child abuse market. You also requested and received material. By your actions you were actively contributing to the expansion of the market.

36By transmitting material to others there was also the potential for the material to be even more widely distributed by those receiving it.

37The maximum penalty for most charges is 15 years' imprisonment which is an unequivocal indicator of the seriousness of those charges in the view of Parliament.

38Your offending was not isolated or sporadic but occurred in regular intervals over a period of over two years between January 2022 and May 2024. Your offending was not opportunistic and involved a degree of planning.

39As I summarised at the beginning of these remarks, the content of the material involved in the central charges is highly sexualised, abhorrent and disgusting and some of the material was exceptionally depraved. There was also a clear interconnection between the child abuse material you were dealing with and themes of serious violence, death and cruelty.  

40Your dealings with the material and your communications were clearly for sexual gratification and you have been diagnosed with paedophilic disorder. The contents of the material in my view clearly supports this diagnosis.

41Many different child victims were depicted in the material and each of those children is presumed to have suffered harm.

42The written communications you sent to and exchanged with others that constituted written child abuse material, featured abhorrent violent fantasies with common themes of inflicting gross sexual abuse and violence on children as young as babies. Apart from a few occasions, your written exchanges were also accompanied by the transmission of child abuse videos or images.

43In terms of your written child abuse material, I am cognisant however, that despite repeated references in your communications to vile acts being committed against children, there were no children actually harmed or sexually abused because of this aspect of your offending. As held in Heels v The King,[2] the fact that an actual child is not harmed or sexually abused is a relevant factor in assessing the objective gravity of offending involving child abuse material. That is not to say that such offending involving written fantasies is not serious. Text-based child abuse material exchanged with others for sexual gratification '…has the tendency to normalise or encourage child sexual abuse', to encourage reciprocal communications or victim participation[3], relegates children to objects, undermines society's abhorrence of child sexual abuse and ignores the harm that the fantasised activities causes real child victims.[4] As stated in R v Edwards[5], written child abuse material is not victimless and it may fuel a demand for material involving real child victims.[6]

[2] [2024] VSCA 133, [40]

[3]Innes v R [2018] NSWCCA 90; Meadows v The Queen [2017] VSCA 290; The Queen v Hancock [2011] NTCCA 14 at [42].

[4] Ibid, [40]

[5] [2019] QCA 15, [60-61]

[6] See also McEwen v Simmons (2008) 73 NSWLR 10; [2008] NSWSC 1292; Innes v R [2018] NSWCCA 90

16A(2)(f) Plea of guilty

45You pleaded guilty to the charge at the first available opportunity, being at the first committal mention of the matter. Your plea warrants a clear reduction in the sentence to be imposed to reflect its utilitarian value in saving the community the time and expense of a trial and witnesses from having to give evidence, and to reflect its demonstration of acceptance of responsibility, willingness to facilitate the course of justice and remorse.

16A(2)(f) Contrition 

46In your case, I am satisfied that you have also demonstrated some remorse for your offending over that reflected by your plea alone. Your contrition for the offending is evident from the remorse you have expressed to your mother and stepmother, your offer to assist police, and you told Dr Barth you felt shame and disgust at your offending.

16A(2)(j) Specific Deterrence

16A(2)(k) Need for Adequate Punishment

Community Protection

48I have had regard to the need to deter you personally from further offending of this type. I note that you have no prior convictions, you have gained some insight into your offending, and you have willingly accepted and engaged in treatment but this must be balanced against the fact that your offending occurred over 26 months, your risk of reoffending is medium to high and you still have significant work to do in developing insight into your offending in the context of your paedophilia and zoophilia diagnoses. In those circumstances, the weight to be given to specific deterrence is high.

49I have also had regard to the requirement that I denounce your offending and ensure you are adequately punished for your offending. In your case, community protection is a prominent sentencing consideration given your diagnosis of a Paedophilic Disorder[7] and your need for further intensive treatment.

[7] DPP (Cth) v Knipe [2025] VSCA 228.

16A(2)(ja) General Deterrence

50General deterrence is the primary sentencing consideration for offending involving child abuse material given the prevalence and ready availability of this material and the need to protect children from child sexual abuse.[8] Where general deterrence is primary, personal mitigatory factors such as prior good character, age, prospects of rehabilitation et cetera, must therefore be given less weight than might otherwise be given.[9]

[8] DPP (Cth) v Garside [2016] VSCA 74; DPP (Cth) v Zarb [2014] VSCA 347; R v De Leeuw [2015] NSWCCA 183 at [116].

[9] DPP (Cth) v Knipe [2025] VSCA 228, [80]; Heathcote (a pseudonym) v The Queen [2014] VSCA 35 [at 35]; Gajjar v R (2008) 192 A Crim R 76 at [27-28.]

16A(2)(m) Character, antecedents, age, means and physical or mental condition

51You were aged between 23 and 26 at the time of the offending and are now 27 years old. You were relatively young when you commenced offending, but you were not a child nor were you a youthful offender. Given your diagnoses and the nature of your offending I do not think it can be said that it was the result of youthful immaturity. So, whilst I do have regard to your age, I do not give it a great deal of weight. Having said that, I am mindful that you are at the time of sentencing a young person with a long future ahead so I will ensure the sentence I impose is not 'crushing'.

52You have no prior convictions and no subsequent or outstanding matters.

53I have had regard to the contents of a psychological report from Dr Barth who said your sexuality is '…unequivocally disordered' and diagnosed you with Paedophilic Disorder – Non-Exclusive Type and 'Other Specified Paraphilic Disorder – Zoophilia'. Dr Barth said you told him you had started engaging with pornography during your mid-teens. You told Dr Barth that after your rape you had trouble having sexual intercourse and stopped having sexual relationships which led to you leaning more on sexual chats with men
on-line and pornography.

54Your on-line activities became more problematic as you engaged in extensive sexualised chats with men mainly on Telegram and you moved from 'mainstream homoerotic material' to more deviant material such as sadomasochistic material. The content of your on-line chats with other men, according to Dr Barth, developed a recurring theme of dominance and power with you becoming more aroused by depictions of great power and/or physical size differences between protagonists. This ultimately culminated in your interest in child abuse material and bestiality, and you would discuss your sexual fantasies with other users and send and receive child abuse and other material.

55You also admitted to Dr Barth that you enjoyed the attention you received from others because you were able to access 'taboo' material and the more you had the more highly you were regarded in the on-line community. This led to you accessing more deviant and depraved material and you became set on creating 'no limits' material of extreme deviance to please other users. You also admitted that you found the sharing of 'taboo' material personally exciting.

56You said that you had never had treatment or counselling following your rape and instead have attempted to regain feelings of adequacy and self-worth back by seeking approval via sexual attention from men. You told Dr Barth you ceased accessing any pornography upon your arrest.

57Dr Barth opined further that you have depression and anxiety, and their symptoms cause you 'a noticeable degree of distress' although he concluded that they fall within normal limits for an individual in your situation and do not rise to the level of a psychological disorder. The symptoms are generated, he said, by feelings of guilt for the offending, concern about your legal predicament and your questioning of your own adequacy.

58Dr Barth concluded that your offending went simply beyond 'role playing' or sharing material for excitement or to win friends but indicated the presence of multifaceted psychological deviance. Your repeated accessing of material involving very young children and animals, your use of the material to masturbate, your creation of very extreme written material which would feature a wide range of aberrant sexual acts and your engagement in sexual activity with your pet dog reveals 'entrenched deviant sexuality'.

59Dr Barth noted your commitment in participating in treatment with Dr Handley to start addressing your psychosexual problems. However, he considered the gravity of your offending means you will require multi-faceted offence-specific treatment, and you still require work on developing insight into your offending, because whilst improving, it remains underdeveloped. This was especially in terms of you developing insight into, or acknowledging, the sexual arousal you felt from viewing the material as opposed to attributing your offending solely on a desire to please others.

60It was not argued that you have any diagnosed psychological disorder such that limbs 1 to 4 of R v Verdins; Buckley; Vo[10] apply to reduce your moral culpability for the offending or the weight to be given to the principles of general and specific deterrence. I assess your moral culpability for the offending as high, and your counsel did not submit that any lower assessment was appropriate. In terms of your diagnosis of paedophilia, to the extent that it ever could be a reason to reduce your moral culpability, I note what was said recently in DPP (C’th) v Knipe[11]

[10] (2007) 16 VR 269.

[11] [2025] VSCA 228, [94].

Thus, even if an offender’s moral culpability can be reduced because of a paedophilic disorder, that diagnosis cannot reduce the objective gravity of the offending or the need for paramount emphasis on general deterrence in the sentencing exercise. And, the need for specific deterrence and protection of the community will almost inevitably outweigh any mitigation arising from a reduced moral culpability.

61I did not understand there to be reliance on Verdins limbs 5 and 6 nor does there appear to be an evidentiary basis for any reduction given your mental condition and your scores for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress were in the normal range and showed a very low level of self-reported distress given your social and legal situation.

62I have also had regard to the reports provided by your treating psychologist Mr Peter Handley dated 8 September 2025 and 13 October 2025. You have undertaken 25 treatment sessions with Mr Handley since your arrest which is very much to your credit. You have developed a relapse prevention plan, and you are working on processing your life events. Mr Handley stated that you were open to discussions involving sensitive topics, committed to treatment and building a prosocial life, and you had made good progress. He opined however that you still require work as your level of insight into your offending, whilst improved, is still developing and there remains a risk that you will be triggered back into a dysfunctional state associated with your offending, particularly in response to stressors such as relationship difficulties and/or boredom. He concluded that you would benefit from specialised sex offender treatment to treat your past pattern of sexual arousal to extreme sexual violence, your history of trauma and relationship difficulties and to manage ongoing risks.

62In his addendum report of 13 October 2025, Mr Handley addressed my queries about what treatment you had engaged in specifically for your paedophilic and zoophilic disorders and to address your underlying interest in child abuse material especially material involving severe violence. Mr Handley stated that your treatment has addressed psychological issues underpinning your paedophilic disorder, but it has been multifaceted and focussed on underlying psychological drivers rather than paedophilia in isolation. Treatment has been directed towards factors that have made you susceptible to paraphilic interests and relapse prevention. Your zoophilic arousal has also been addressed in the context of understanding your vulnerability to needing to please others in the on-line environment and to maintain status in that deviant subculture.

63The violence featured in your offending has been a central topic of your discussion in your treatment and treatment has been directed towards risk factors and your core vulnerabilities to violent ideation and to the development of skills to meet your underlying needs and to strengthen your prosocial self. Treatment has been focussed on how you became normalised to extreme violence after repeated exposure and how you sought to gain a sense of power by engaging in sadism due to your own experience of rape and subjugation in family and dating relationships. The effects on victims and the harmful effects of sexual violence are being explored as is the development of skills to meet your underlying needs without resorting to violent sexual fantasies.

16A(2)(n) Prospects of rehabilitation

64In your case, your offending covered a relatively long period, and Dr Barth assessed you as presenting with a moderate–high risk of reoffending. Dr Barth opined however that you have gained insight regarding the gravity of your offending, and your risk of offending will reduce if you continue sex offender specific treatment.

65You also have the support of your family, you have had 25 professional treatment sessions with Dr Handley and as Dr Barth noted, you are intelligent and have an employment history. Dr Barth continued that while you still have quite some way to go with treatment, it is typically a lengthy therapeutic process, and you have sought out treatment and actively engaged in it. Mr Handley stated that the severity of the material involved in your offending could not be overstated, but you are still young, engaging in treatment, have family support and prosocial future plans so your future prognosis is good if you continue with treatment. You are a young person with no priors, and assuming your risk factors are addressed, and you continue with treatment, I assess you as having fair to good prospects of rehabilitation.

66I have had regard to s16A(2AAA) of the Act which provides when sentencing for a Commonwealth child sex offence (here Charges 1, 2 4, 6 and 7), in addition to any other matters, I must have regard to the objective of rehabilitating you and I do so. You have engaged in many treatment sessions to your credit and, whilst you still have quite a way to go in developing an understanding of the effects of your offending and accepting responsibility for what you have done, your continued rehabilitation must be given weight. It is not the case however that this objective operates to swamp the primacy to be given to principles of general and specific deterrence and the need to protect the community and it must operate in view of the need to impose a sentence which adequately reflects the seriousness of your offending.

Totality and cumulation/concurrency

67Section 19(5) of the Act provides a presumption in favour of full cumulation between sentences imposed for Commonwealth child sex offences, although s19(6) permits the court not to impose full cumulation if, in all the circumstances, this will still result in appropriately severe sentences. I will not impose complete cumulation in respect of the charges to which the presumption applies as to do so would breach the principle of totality and I am able to construct a sentence of appropriate severity without needing to impose wholly cumulative sentences.

68Even without the presumption, or where it does not apply, I would impose a modest degree of cumulation between the sentences imposed to reflect the different and discrete types of offending and where the offence type is the same, to reflect the different instances or variations of that offending. I do so mindful of the principles of totality and proportionality and the need to avoid imposing a crushing sentence. I am also cognisant that there is significant overlap between Charges 2 and 6 – where you accessed material by 'liking' child abuse material that had been posted by others - and this arose from the Charge 2 offending.

69There is also an overlap between Charge 2 and the possession Charge 7 as a significant amount of the material possessed was also transmitted in Charge 2. This does not preclude any cumulation though because, again, the offences are distinct in nature, have different elements and involve separate acts of criminality. One offence involves you obtaining child abuse material in the first place plus your actions in sending child abuse material onto many others. The other charge involves your decision to save or keep the child abuse material.

Comparative sentences

70I was provided with a schedule of intermediate appellate sentences. Whilst these are of assistance in illustrating the relevant sentencing principles, they are of limited utility in the present sentencing exercise. As frequently occurs in cases involving a multitude of different offence types and charges, each with differing charges, features and levels of severity, and differing subjective mitigating factors, it is very difficult to find cases of sufficient factual similarity to be of any real assistance.

Submissions on sentence

71The prosecution submitted that the objective seriousness of your offending is such that a total effective head sentence should be imposed which requires the imposition of a
non-parole period – that is, a sentence with a head sentence of imprisonment exceeding three years.[12]

[12] s 19AB(1) Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)

72Your counsel submitted that I should impose a total effective sentence that would see your release on a recognisance release order. A recognisance release order may only be imposed if the total effective sentence does not exceed three years' imprisonment.[13] It was accepted however that some part of the term of imprisonment imposed would need to be served before your release with conditions imposed to address your ongoing need for treatment and support in the community.

[13] s 19AC(1) Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)

73I have done my best to balance the very serious nature of your offending and the strong need for general and specific deterrence, protection of the community, just punishment and denunciation with your provisionally good prospects of rehabilitation, your committed engagement and progress with treatment, your relatively young age, lack of prior convictions, and the need to promote your rehabilitation. On balance, I consider your offending is far too serious, and the need to promote general deterrence and protection of the community too great to permit a head sentence that would allow for your release on a Recognisance Release Order after serving a portion of the term of imprisonment imposed.  Please stand.

Sentence

74On the single State charge, Charge 5, you are convicted and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. That sentence commences today, 11 November 2025.

75On Commonwealth Charge 2, you are convicted and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. This is the base Commonwealth sentence. I direct that the sentence commences six months after the commencement of the State sentence.

76On Charge 1, you are convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. I direct that that sentence commences three months prior to the expiration of the sentence imposed on Charge 2.

77On Charge 3, you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment. I direct the sentence commences six months prior to the expiration of the sentence imposed on Charge 1.

78On Charge 4, you are convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. I direct that the sentence commences four months prior to the expiration of the sentence imposed on Charge 3.

79On Charge 6, you are convicted and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. I direct the sentence commences three months prior to the expiration of the sentence imposed on Charge 4.

80On Charge 7, you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment. I direct that sentence commences six months prior to the expiration of the sentence imposed on Charge 6.

81The total effective State sentence is nine months' imprisonment.

82The total effective Commonwealth sentence is four and a half years' imprisonment. I set a non-parole period for the Commonwealth offending of two years and eight months.

83With the partial cumulation/concurrency ordered between the State and Commonwealth charges, the overall total effective sentence is five years' imprisonment.

84The total effective non-parole period is three years and two months' imprisonment.

85I declare pursuant to s18E of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), that you have served five days' pre-sentence detention, excluding today.

86As you have been convicted of three or more Class 2 offences listed in Schedule 2 of the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 (Vic), you are required to comply with reporting obligations for life.[14]

[14] s 34(1)(c)(i)

87Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), but for your plea of guilty, I would have imposed a total effective head sentence of six and a half years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of four years and two months.

88If we could please remove Mr Asplet.  Thank you.

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