CDirector of Public Prosecutions v Bennett

[2025] VCC 913

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

Case No. CR-25-00381

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
(CTH)

v

DAVID MICHAEL BENNETT

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE TODD
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	25 June 2025
DATE OF SENTENCE:	01 July 2025
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	CDPP v BENNETT
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 913

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:   CRIMINAL LAW – Sentence

Catchwords:             Use a carriage service to transmit, solicit and access child abuse material, and cause child abuse material to be transmitted to himself; possess or control child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service.

Legislation Cited:     Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) sch 2 ss 474.22, 474.22A(1); Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) ss 3LA,16A(2), 16A(1), 16A(2AAA), 19(5), 20(i)(b); Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s 6AAA; Sex Offender Registration Act 2004 (Vic).

Cases Cited: DPP (Cth) v Garside (2016) 50 VR 800; R v Gent (2005) 162 A Crim R 29; R v Chenhall [2021] VSCA 175; R v De Leeuw [2015] NSWCCA 183; R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269; Bayliss v R [2013] VSCA 70; Curle v The King [2024] NSWCCA 117; Henderson v The King [2024] ACTCA 3; Kenworthy v The Queen [2016] [No 2] WASCA 207; Lyons v The Queen VSCA 242.

Sentence: Total effective sentence of 3 years. To be released after serving 22 months and upon giving a recognisance in the amount of $1,000 and to be of good behaviour for a period of 2 years.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the DPP	Mr P. Botros	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr S. Thomas	James Dowsley & Associates Pty Ltd

HER HONOUR:

Pleas of guilty

1.David Michael Bennett, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of using a carriage service to transmit, solicit, access and cause child abuse material to be transmitted to yourself,[1] and one charge of possession or control of child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service.[2]

[1]Criminal Code 1985 (Cth) s 474.22(1).

[2]Criminal Code 1985 (Cth) s 474.22A(1).

2.Each of these offences attract a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment.

3.Briefly, you used the Telegram application to converse with 43 other Telegram users and during those conversations you exchanged child abuse material in the form of photos, videos and text-based 'chat'. That gives rise to Charge 1 which is a rolled-up count. You also had child abuse material stored on your phone, and that gives rise to Charge 2.

4.Turning first to the factual background that forms the basis of the sentence.

Factual Background

5.I will sentence you on the facts as are set out in the prosecution opening dated 28 May 2025.

6.The prosecution summary of your offending is comprised of 93 paragraphs over 24 pages in which your offending is described in detail.

7.The nature of the material in the summary of your offending presents a practical difficulty for this Court. I must balance the need for public and informed denunciation of your offending in its particular detail against my obligation not to reproduce and transmit child abuse material in any form, and my obligation to reduce the exposure of Court staff and the public to unnecessary harm.

8.I will not recite or even summarise the facts on this sentence, I will quote the prosecution opening very selectively to occasionally convey the tone or content of just some of your offending.  

9.I am conscious of the need not to be overwhelmed by the nature of this content; you will be sentenced according to law and on the basis of what is contained in the prosecution opening.

Reference to limited facts

10.Your offending was detected when police executed a search warrant at your house in July 2024 and seized your mobile phone.

11.The investigators had with them a s 3LA warrant which obliged you to provide the PIN code to your device to enable them to analyse its contents.[3]

[3]Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).

12.You complied with that obligation, and this led to the discovery of two categories of material on that device which form the basis of these charges.

13.First, investigators uncovered conversations on the Telegram application between you and 43 other Telegram users in private chats in which you transmitted and solicited child abuse material.

14.The second category of evidence found on your phone comprised eight video and 13 image files, each of which constituted child abuse material, and which were saved in your phone's storage.

15.I turn very briefly to mention some of the facts giving rise to Charge 1.

16.This charge covers the period between 12 June 2021 to 12 July 2024.

17.Charge 1 is a rolled-up charge, the content of which is described from Section D and following on the prosecution summary. There is a description of the 43 different conversations which range from a single day to several days between you and other Telegram users.

18.These exchanges were with others using names such as 'magicpunk', 'fuckplaycum' and 'predator', but each follows a similar structure. First, you and the other user would establish that both of you were interested in looking at child abuse material. Sometimes there would be discussion of what particular age or circumstance you each found attractive, in your case 'white pedos and white boys.' You and the other user would each confirm, often enthusiastically, your mutual interest in the sexual abuse of young children. In this exchange you are HF and communicate with KK:

KK: mostly boys eight plus, love teen pedos, love porn, brothers/cousins/uncles, etc, super-hot, u?

You: Fuck yeah, I love boys five and up. Proud paedophile here.

KK: nice.

You: You fuck young yet.

KK: As an adult youngest was 12 but as a teen more like nine.

19.That achieved, you or the other user would put child abuse material into the chat. This would take the form of text-based conversation, video or still images.  

20.In one video a prepubescent female child is being sexually penetrated in the anus and the vagina by two adult males with their penises. The child's legs have the text 'Pedo' and 'Princess PRP2016' written on them.

21.On another occasion you successfully solicit 14 video files containing child abuse material. They depict the forceful rape of prepubescent boys anally and orally by an adult male.

22.The arc of the text-based material over the period of Charge 1 moved between the relatively benign where you say: 'I love everything, especially incest and young', and over time becomes more extreme with more seriously violent and degrading language describing more and more cruel and hateful scenes in which the kidnapping, sexual penetration and murder of prepubescent and newborn children is discussed:

DA: Or just fuck her so hard up the cunt with the baby on my cock she tears wide open and bleeds out

You: Doesn’t matter how she dies. She is worthless now that we have the newborn baby impaled on our pedo cocks.

23.And later:

‘I want to bond with you through killing bro’ to which you respond: ‘Killing as well as raping and molesting sexy little toddlers’.

24.Charge 2, as I have said, is constituted by your possession of child abuse material. There were eight videos and 13 images stored on your phone. The majority of the material depicted images of real children mostly aged between eight and 11 years, being digitally, vaginally and anally penetrated by adult males, and those matters are summarised from paragraph 86 of the prosecution opening.

25.There is an 'agreed but approximate' number of images the subject of Charge 1: 242 videos and photos combined were solicited by you and 122 sent by you.

26.Charge 2 involves eight videos and 13 images stored on your phone. Some of these were the same material that was dealt with under Charge 1.

Personal circumstances

27.You are now 37 years old.  At the time of the offending, you were aged between 33 and 36.

28.

You were born in Victoria and raised in Mount Dandenong. You have an older

half-brother and half-sister. There is a significant age gap between you and your half-siblings, and they have little presence in your life.

29.Your childhood was not characterised by abuse or violence. The references to abuse by a family member in the conversations on Telegram were fictional, you later said.  Whilst you maintain a close relationship with your mother, you reported to a forensic psychologist Dr Barth that you had a 'very disconnected relationship' with your father.

30.You finished Year 12 at St Joseph's College in Ferntree Gully. Your schooling was largely unremarkable. You describe yourself as having been an 'average student'. You experienced some degree of social isolation during your schooling years, reporting to Dr Barth that you 'struggled to develop friendships'.

31.You went on to further study, enrolling in a Bachelor of Information Technology and Education in Tasmania. You withdrew from that course after a short period and returned to Melbourne to enter the workforce.

32.You have been employed as an integration aide at a primary school, in manufacturing, agriculture and food packaging. You have also had periods of unemployment during which time you received Centrelink benefits.

33.You have a long history of drug abuse, starting with cannabis use from the age of 18. You began experimenting with stimulant drugs in your 20s including MDMA, cocaine and methylamphetamine. The latter became your 'drug of choice’, and your use escalated from monthly to daily. From 2017 you engaged in intravenous ice use.

34.Since you were granted bail, you have participated in a treatment program facilitated through the Court Integrated Services Program. You report to Dr Barth that you had been abstinent from drugs since July 2024,[4] and a recent urine screen was 'clean' and confirms this.

[4]Psychological report of Dr Barth dated 11 June 2025 [20].

35.You reported to Dr Barth that you had experienced 'unrelenting depressive symptoms and anxiety during [your] adult years'.[5] You attempted to self-medicate through your ice use.

[5]Ibid [29].

36.Dr Barth ultimately found that you met the DSM-5 criteria for the diagnosis of persistent depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder.[6] Dr Barth also opined that your ice addiction warrants the diagnosis of a stimulant use disorder,[7] and I will return shortly to these diagnoses and to the consequences of them for this sentence.

[6]Ibid [39].

[7]Ibid [47].

37.You became aware of your sexuality during your teens and described being 'embarrassed about [your] sexuality' during those years.[8] You had two intimate relationships during your 20s. You have not been in a relationship since 2015.

[8]Ibid [23].

38.You were not the victim of sexual abuse as a young person, nor have you experienced sexual coercion or unwanted sexual advances.

39.You commenced pornography use when you were in your mid-teens. The frequency of this increased during your adult years, particularly in the context of your ice use and during periods in which you lacked sexual intimacy.

40.You are currently living in a rental property in Frankston with your friend, Ms Irazusta.  Ms Irazusta provided a character reference to the court in support of you. Your parents and Ms Irazusta are aware of the general nature of your offending and remain supportive.

41.You are currently unemployed and in receipt of Jobseeker allowance.  

Assessment of the offending

42.The criteria for the assessment of the objective seriousness of offences relating to child abuse material are uncontroversial. [9]

[9]DPP (Cth) v Garside (2016) 50 VR 800; R v Gent (2005) 162 A Crim R 29.

43.The volume of child abuse material dealt with by you is a relevant feature of this sentence, and was in your case, comparatively to some cases, modest. Balanced against this, however, is the nature of that material, which is well inside in the upper category of gravity, dealing as it does with very cruel conduct committed against very young real children.  

44.I acknowledge that there are some exceptions to this, in the form of text-based communications, and some AI generated content. But most of the material is comprised of very degrading and harmful child abuse.  This feature, along with the duration of the conduct (three years) giving rise to Charge 1, significantly elevates my assessment of the gravity of your offending. Charge 1 is a rolled-up count, as I said, encompassing many events and this sentence must reflect that.

45.There is no evidence that you profited financially, which would be a feature in aggravation of this sentence, but you are an enduring participant in the mechanism of circulation of this material; you are part of the system of trade.

46.I make it clear that I do not sentence you on the more serious basis that you ever believed you were interacting on Telegram with actual children; there is insufficient basis to make that conclusion beyond reasonable doubt.

47.Overall, I conclude that yours is serious, enduring conduct which perpetuates the ongoing perpetration of, and circulation of, the product of grave sexual offending against young children. Your gaze animates the industry that carries out the abuse; your attention mobilises those who seek to profit from this cruelty.

48.You have no prior convictions. You will be sentenced as a person of previous good character; however, I note this feature of your sentence will have a diminished weight in the context of the protracted and extreme nature of your offending.[10]

[10]R v Chenhall [2021] VSCA 175; R v De Leeuw [2015] NSWCCA 183, [72(d)].

Matters to take into account – s 16A(2) and severity appropriate

49.In arriving at your sentence, my overarching obligation is to impose a sentence that is of a severity appropriate in all the circumstances taking into account the matters set out in s 16A(2) in particular.[11]

[11](n 3).

Early plea of guilty

50.You pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, and this will result in a substantial reduction of your sentence. The utilitarian benefit of your plea is undiminished by the powerful prosecution case that you faced.  

51.

The personal circumstances of your offending are described in the report of

Dr Barth; these matters were advanced for context and not in mitigation. You were socially isolated, lacking intimacy and disinhibited by methamphetamine use. You found recourse to child abuse material facilitated your sexual intimacy.

Remorse s 16A(2)(f)

52.On your plea, your counsel submitted that there was evidence of remorse in the form of statements to Dr Barth, your participation in appropriate treatment and in your pleas of guilty. As I said on the plea, I do not find the presence or absence of remorse to be the domain of expert psychological opinion, being, as it is, a moral question and not a diagnosis, and one which is better answered in action than in untested statements.

53.I accept that your participation in appropriate treatment is good evidence of your willingness to at least pick up the tools of rehabilitation, but I also find your statements about harmfulness to children to Dr Barth are too slight a basis for a more full finding of contrition in the context of your enduring participation in a sealed online environment which celebrates paedophilic desires and practices. I accept the prosecution's submission that when you say to your treating psychologist: 'the biggest thing is letting other people down…family and (my best friend) mainly' that you have mistaken in this case what the 'biggest thing' is here.

54.I acknowledge the steps that you have taken towards treatment; your emergence from the online environment of cruelty and degradation cannot happen overnight, but you have now opened the door. You have sought help from experts and submitted yourself to their care and advice. Such remorse that you currently have is extremely shallow, but I have found that you have taken the first steps.

Psychological material and Verdins’ submissions

55.On your plea, as I said, a report authored by Dr Mathew Barth was tendered and alongside this a treatment report authored by Mr Peter Hanley.

56.I return now to the opinion in Dr Barth's report.

57.After interviews, testing, and conducting a risk assessment, Dr Bath's opinion can be summarised in this way:

(a)   you have suffered from social and emotional problems since childhood;

(b)   you currently suffer from depressive and anxiety related symptoms which include both reactive elements related to your current legal situation and also those derived from a more chronic issue based in your personal history;

(c)   Dr Barth diagnosed:

(i)'Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia)' and a 'Generalised Anxiety Disorder';

(ii)'Prominent Features of Avoidant and Dependent Personality Disorders'

(iii)'Paedophilic Disorder – Exclusive Type – Attracted to Males' and; 

(iv)'Stimulant-Use Disorder' (in early remission if abstinence can be verified).

58.In terms of risk, you were assessed as being likely to fall into the 'Moderate – High Risk' category of sexual recidivism which could be reduced with the completion of a sex offender treatment program.

59.Dr Barth made some observations that are relevant to my assessment of remorse, and I have already referred to these.

60.In terms of treatment, I note that at the time of the plea you had attended three 60‑minute consultations with Mr Peter Hanley for sex offender treatment. You have said that you will continue such treatment when you are able to. You have remained abstinent from methamphetamine now for some time.

61.Mr Hanley's report establishes that you have embarked upon the process of treatment though that process is in its infancy. Mr Hanley describes you as initially presenting limited insight into your offending behaviour. Mr Hanley reports that that insight did develop during these few early sessions.

62.Mr Hanley records your emotional detachment and desensitisation from the severity of the material that you were engaging with.

63.During submissions, your counsel narrowed the legal basis for mitigation on parts of this material. By reference to paragraph 58 of Dr Barth's report, it was submitted that the fifth limb of Verdins is enlivened,[12] and that your particular combination of depressive disorder, anxiety and dysfunctional interpersonal adjustment will have caused the experience of the custodial environment to be more onerous on you than on a prisoner not facing those difficulties. I accept that submission; I accept that custody has been and will be, for you, a particularly trying experience. I mitigate your sentence accordingly.

[12]R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269 (‘Verdins’).

Rehabilitation s 16A(2AAA) and balancing

64.You have some work history; you have embarked on treatment and have a demonstrated capacity to engage in treatment while on the CISP bail support programme. You maintain the support and affection of your parents and of your friend Ms Izustra. Your insight has been described as 'developing'. You have addressed the noxious and disinhibiting addiction to methamphetamine. These matters give me some cautious belief in your ability to rehabilitate and not offend again, but this is a cautious conclusion.

Principles and purposes of sentence

65.The possession and transmission of child abuse material is not a victimless crime; it creates a market that is animated by and reliant upon the continued exploitation of children and the end users, being you in this case.

66.Offending involving child pornography occurs on an international level and is becoming increasingly prevalent with the advent of the Internet.[13]

[13](n 9) at [72].

67.The role for this sentence to deter other people from engaging in this behaviour is absolutely central; anyone tempted to do something similar should understand that when they are detected they will face a very lengthy period of imprisonment.

68.This sentence must also serve as public denunciation of what you did. On behalf of the community, this Court puts your behaviour outside the range of acceptable human conduct. I hold in mind the suffering of the real children abused and degraded in the course of the creation of the material that you traded in. I acknowledge too that this harm is ongoing as the children involved know that their images of their abuse are circulated infinitely and perpetually across the internet.

69.You must also be punished and personally deterred, and the sentence will take account, too, of your prospects for rehabilitation.

Comparative cases

70.At the plea I was referred to a number of broadly comparable cases,[14] and I have had regard to those as far as they sketch the landscape in which I sentence you, but no case is perfectly alike to yours.

[14]Bayliss v R [2013] VSCA 70; Curle v The King [2024] NSWCCA 117; Henderson v The King [2024] ACTCA 3; Kenworthy v The Queen [2016] [No 2] WASCA 207; Lyons v The Queen VSCA 242.

Statutory structure

71.Section 16A(1) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) obliges me to impose a sentence 'of a severity appropriate in all the circumstances of the offence'.

Submissions

72.Ultimately, the prosecutor argued that given the offending was somewhat more serious than those in the comparable cases, a sentence involving a non-parole period was appropriate. Your counsel argued that the appropriate structure was a recognisance release order with a big discrepancy between the custodial portion and that to be served in the community, so to create a lengthy period of liberty under supervision.  

73.I take into account the requirement in s 16A(2AAA),[15] and in particular the requirement that I allow sufficient time for you to undertake a program and course of rehabilitation.

[15](n 3).

74.In the sentence I am about to impose, I am cognisant of the requirement in s 19(5) of the Crimes Act (Cth) that the sentences on these charges must be served wholly cumulatively.[16] I will order some degree of concurrency in this sentence; I am satisfied however that the sentences that I am about to impose will nevertheless be of a severity appropriate in all the circumstances, and pay proper regard to the principle of totality, and the fact that there is some practical overlap between Charges 1 and 2, but as well the fact that Charge 2 does represent some distinct criminality.  

[16]Ibid.

75.I have considered all of the available sentences and am satisfied, having regard to the maximum penalties and the seriousness of the conduct on Charges 1 and 2, that no disposition other than a term of imprisonment is appropriate in all the circumstances, a factor that was sensibly conceded by your counsel.

76.If you will stand up now for me, Mr Bennett.

Disposition

77.On Charge 1, for the offence of using a carriage service to transmit solicit and access child abuse material, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of two years and nine months, that sentence commences today 1 July 2025.  

78.On Charge 2, the offence of possession or control of child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of nine months.

79.The sentence on Charge two commences two years and three months after the commencement of the sentence on Charge 1, giving effect to my intention to cumulate three months of the sentence on Charge 2, resulting in a total effective sentence of three years, to be served by way of a recognisance release order.

80.You are to be released after serving 22 months upon your entering into a recognisance with the payment of security of $1,000, to be of good behaviour for a period of two years and to appear before the Court if so called upon at any time in respect of any breach within the relevant period.

81.Pursuant to s 20(i)(b) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), the conditions of the recognisance will be that you:

(i)Accept the supervision of a probation officer appointed by the Office of Corrections Victoria or their delegate;

(ii)Obey all reasonable directions of the probation officer;

(iii)Not travel interstate or overseas without the written permission of this probation officer; and

(iv)Undertake such treatment and rehabilitation programs as the probation officer reasonably directs.

Take a seat please.

82.Mr Bennet I am also obliged to explain to you want I mean by this sentence. You have been sentenced to three years' imprisonment, but you will be released with conditions after serving 22 months of that sentence. You then have to be of good behaviour for the next two years. If you do not abide by that condition or any of the conditions that I have just read out, or you are convicted of further offending, then you will have to return to Court, and you may be re-sentenced to serve all or part of the balance of 14 months of your original sentence.  

Pre-sentence detention

83.I declare that you have already served 36 days by way of pre-sentence detention and that will be accounted for administratively.

S 6 AAA

84.Pursuant to s 6 AAA of the Victorian Sentencing Act,[17] I declare that had you been found guilty by a jury after trial I would have imposed a head sentence of five and a half years with a non-parole period of three and a half years.

[17]1991.

SORA

85.As a result of these convictions, pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act 2004 (Vic) you have become a registerable offender and you will be under reporting obligations for the next 15 years, and I will return to that in a moment.

86.First to Mr Botros, is the sentence structurally clear?

87.MR BOTROS:  We might have missed one detail of it, but yes, Your Honour, there is no issue with the structure of it.  In terms of the period to be supervised by the probation officer, did Your Honour specify that?

88.HER HONOUR:  I did not, but what I intended was that the period of conditions is for two years.

89.MR BOTROS:  Yes.

90.HER HONOUR:  Yes. I think I did mention that.

91.MR BOTROS:  Understood.

92.HER HONOUR: And in terms of the conditions pursuant to s20(i)(b), the conditions that I have noted, are they sufficient?

93.MR BOTROS:  I was just going to - for us to prepare the recognisance release order - I would ask if Your Honour can give us those conditions?

94.HER HONOUR:  They really as set out in the sub-section.

95.MR BOTROS:  Yes.

96.HER HONOUR:  Yes.

97.MR BOTROS:  Well, if they're as set out in the sub-section - - -

98.HER HONOUR:  That's what I intend.

99.MR BOTROS:  - - - 1(a), then yes, they'll be sufficient.

100.HER HONOUR:  Yes, all right.  Well I will stand down while that's being prepared.

101.MR BOTROS:  Yes.

102.HER HONOUR:  But what I would like to do while I've stood down, is for you Mr Thomas, there will be a Sex Offender Registration Act document provided.

103.MR THOMAS:  Yes, Your Honour.

104.HER HONOUR:  And your client needs to understand what he is signing.

105.MR THOMAS:  Yes.

106.HER HONOUR:  So Mr Bennett, Mr Thomas is going to give you some advice about your obligations under the Sex Offender Registration Act.  It is sufficient for me to tell you that you are going to be on that system of obligations for 15 years, the law requires that, and you need to understand that if you don't comply with those conditions then you can be charged with a criminal offence, so you need to take seriously those conditions, understand them, and accept Mr Thomas' advice about how you need to comply with those obligations.

107.All right, thank you, so I'll stand down briefly for those things to happen.

108.(Short adjournment.)

109.HER HONOUR: Mr Thomas, I will deal first with the Sex Offender Registration Act matters.

110.MR THOMAS:  Yes, Your Honour.

111.HER HONOUR:  Has your client had some advice about his obligations under the Act?

112.MR THOMAS:  In full and he's signed the acknowledgement of that understanding.

113.HER HONOUR:  Thank you.  So that's complete.  Mr Botros, I have now received the order that's been helpfully drafted by your instructor.

114.MR BOTROS:  Yes.

115.HER HONOUR:  Mr Thomas, have you seen this order?  Have you seen the final?

116.MR THOMAS:  I've seen it and I'm satisfied it reflects Your Honour's orders, and I've explained it and read it to Mr Bennett as well.

117.HER HONOUR:  Terrific, all right then I will complete that by signing it and he'll be also asked to sign it.  All right, so what I will do is hand that down now for your client to sign it.

118.All right, unless there is anything else, that completes this matter.

119.MR THOMAS:  As Your Honour pleases.

120.MR BOTROS:  Thank you, Your Honour.

121.HER HONOUR:  Just I should actually add this.  In terms of your client's commission to custody today, Mr Thomas, are there any custody management issues that should be noted on the order?

122.MR THOMAS:  No, not off the top of my head, Your Honour.

123.HER HONOUR:  All right, thank you.  That completes this matter.  We will rise.

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