CDirector of Public Prosecutions v Harrison
[2025] VCC 678
•28 May 2025
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL JURISDICTION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
CR 24-02104
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS (CTH) |
| v |
| CLINTON HARRISON |
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| JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE HIGHAM |
| WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
| DATE OF HEARING: | 3 April 2025 16 April 2025 |
| DATE OF SENTENCE: | 28 May 2025 |
| CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | CDPP v Harrison |
| MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 678 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Sentence – use a carriage service to cause child abuse material to be transmitted – use carriage service to solicit child abuse material – engage in sexual activity with child under 16 – groom a person to make it easier to engage in sexual activity with a child outside Australia – possess or control child abuse material - plea of guilty
Legislation Cited: Sex Offender Registration Act2004, Crimes Act (Cth) 1917, Criminal Code Act 1995
Sentence:Total effective sentence of 7 years and 3 months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of five years.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Commonwealth | Mr S. Hogan | Ms R. Doumit Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr J. McGarvie |
HIS HONOUR:
1Clinton Harrison, you have pleaded guilty to:
· one charge of using a carriage service to cause child abuse material to be transmitted to you (Charge 1), for which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of 15 years;
· one charge of using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material (Charge 2), for which the maximum penalty is also 15 years;
· one charge of engaging in sexual activity with a child under 16 outside of Australia (Charge 3), for which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of 20 years;
· one charge of grooming a person to make it easier to procure a child to engage in sexual activity with a child under 16 outside Australia (Charge 4), maximum penalty 15 years; and
· one charge of using a carriage service to possess child abuse material accessed through a carriage service (Charge 5), also with a maximum penalty of 15 years.
2I note that Charge 3 attracts a mandatory minimum sentence of
5 years imprisonment [sic],[1] as provided by s16AAA of the Crimes Act (Cth) 1914.[1] s16AAA Crimes Act (Cth) 1914.
3Exhibit 1 on the plea was a summary of prosecution opening which set out the agreed facts of your offending.
4On the 26 March 2024, you departed Australia and travelled to the Philippines. On 11 April 2024, you returned to Melbourne. You were stopped by Border Force officers, who conducted an examination of your belongings. A video file of a minor performing sexual acts was located on your Samsung Galaxy mobile phone. When questioned as to how the file came to be on your phone, your answers could be best described as evasive. AFP officers attended and then later conducted a search of your home address, seizing various devices and items. The results of such examination underpin the charges on this indictment.
5In brief, the charges encompass your online dealings over a four-week time period with correspondents, (apparently all in the Philippines), from whom you variously sought child abuse material and online sexual activity with a child. Charge 5 relates to the finding of stored images upon your arrest.
6Between 13 March 2024 and 28 March 2024, you caused 49 files containing child abuse material to be transmitted to you on WhatsApp from four different users. Paragraphs 8 to 56 of Exhibit 1 detail the full nature and extent of your interactions and the explicit content of the video files transmitted. The files included depictions of penetrative acts committed on prepubescent females either by themselves or by adults.
7You were persistent in your seeking out of the material. The pattern that emerged is of you engaging with purveyors of child abuse material, receiving images of adult females, then seeking images of younger children and, when files were sent to you, commenting on occasion on the poor quality of the material, and commenting adversely on the asking price. Moneys were paid via GCash in Philippine pesos, the exchange rate meaning that the sums paid in Australian dollars were low indeed.
8It is clear beyond doubt that your interest was at all times in prepubescent females either self-abusing or being violated by adults. The material provided to you was in satisfaction of those desires. Significantly, all image and video files from the WhatsApp users were deleted from your chat records, but saved by you within the secure password-protected folder located on your Samsung Galaxy device (Charge 1).
9Between 18 and 26 March 2024, you solicited child abuse material from WhatsApp user Annareyes on five occasions (Charge 2). Paragraphs 58-64 of Exhibit 1 set out in detail the chats between you. You sought a video of the correspondent, aged 18, and her sister, aged 16. Although you paid money via GCash, no file was in fact transmitted.
10Charge 3 concerns your dealings with WhatsApp user Keisha Porn between 13 and 24 March 2024. Initially, you paid for, and were sent, adult sexualised images. During the course of your subsequent chats, you requested and received child abuse material for which you paid. Paragraphs 68–85 of Exhibit 1 set out in stark detail the child abuse material discussed, requested and transmitted to you.
11Analysis of your Samsung device revealed two screen recordings saved within the secure password-protected folder. They were of a cam show; in effect, what can best be described (see paragraph 87 of Exhibit 1) as a live performance of a highly sexualised nature by a prepubescent female, offered to you by Keisha Porn, who had told you that the child was her younger sister. In a thumbnail on the lefthand of the screen, you can be seen masturbating as you watch the child pose and masturbate herself in real time. You then sent a screenshot of payment confirmation to Keisha and agreed to purchase further video files. Again, all of the chats with Keisha were deleted, but then the files were saved in the secure password-protected folder on your Samsung device from where they were later retrieved.
12Charge 4 concerns your WhatsApp chat with Crystal Monique between 31 March and 9 April 2024 when you were in the Philippines. I note, for the avoidance of doubt, that your presence in the Philippines during part of the offending does not form part of my sentencing reasons. After receiving a file containing child abuse material, you began discussions with Monique with a view to paying for another live sexualised performance by a prepubescent child conducted on a video call. Despite your best endeavours, the performance did not in fact take place, seemingly due to lack of agreement as to payment and to your suspicions around the bona fides of your correspondent. In short, you believed that you might be the victim of a scam.
13Charge 5 relates to your possession on 12 April 2024 of 330 child abuse files, both image and video, located on two mobile phones at the time of the search of your home address. Paragraph 107 of Exhibit 1 describes a representative sample of the material. Suffice to say, this includes images depicting the anal and vaginal penetration of prepubescent female children.
14You indicated a plea of guilty at a committal mention on 29 November 2024, and the matter proceeded by way of straight hand-up brief. Yours, I accept, was a plea of guilty indicated at the earliest opportunity.
Personal Circumstances
15I turn now to your personal circumstances. You were born in January 1983 and are now 42 years of age and were 41 at the time of this offending. You are the eldest child in a sibship of three boys, and you grew up in Wycheproof, a small rural town in northwest Victoria.
16You report an unremarkable childhood, free from conflict or exposure to physical, sexual or emotional abuse. Your father was a truck driver for the local council, and your mother focused her energies on raising the family. Your parents' relationship was free of serious conflict, but they divorced when you were 19 for reasons unknown to you.
17You remain on good terms with your brothers, who have both provided letters of support (Exhibits 5 and 6CH on the plea), and one of whom attended, and with your mother. Your father was first diagnosed with leukaemia in 2021 and, tragically, passed away on 8 October 2023. You and your family had significant involvement in all aspects of the life of your local community, including the local footy club and the CFA.
18You attended local schools in Wycheproof for both primary and secondary schooling and report acquiring functional literacy and numeracy skills. You were a very good student with no behavioural or academic concerns and completed Year 12. You were 'pretty shy', with only a small group of friends in primary school, which reduced to 'only one good friend' during high school.
19In relation to any substance use, you commenced drinking alcohol at 14 and became a heavy drinker during university, relying upon alcohol to facilitate social connection. Your drinking reduced significantly post-university. You have tried what I would describe as various “party drugs” such as MDMA whilst at university but have not persisted in using them.
20You completed a bachelor's degree in information technology at the University of Ballarat and then worked at a transport company in Geelong for four to five years in their IT department. I note a court appearance 2002. You pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, for which you received a good behaviour bond. After learning Mandarin, you moved to China and taught English. In 2016, you moved back to Wycheproof, joined the local fire brigade, and bought and renovated a house. You were heavily involved in your father's care during his terminal illness. At the time of your offending, you worked as a sprayer operator/truck driver: a solitary occupation.
Reports
21Exhibit 9CH on the plea was a psychological report from Mr Patrick Newton dated 22 March 2025. Exhibit 4CH was a treatment report from Mr Geoffrey Burrows dated 25 March 2025 detailing your attendance and progress during 12 sessions.
22Significantly, Mr Newton noted that your emotional demeanour at the time of his assessment was light-hearted to such an extent that he was concerned you had an incomplete appreciation of the gravity of your situation:
‘It was consistent with a more general impression of a man with a limited understanding of his emotional and interpersonal world. No symptoms of depression, anxiety or other mood disturbance were present although Mr Harrison may be more emotionally vulnerable than he is currently willing to admit’
23You reported no periods of mental ill-health and had never felt it necessary to seek professional help. Mr Newton estimated you to be of average intelligence with no deficits in your capacity for judgment or insight. You were always, he said, capable of understanding the implications of your actions and the wrongfulness of your conduct.
24Mr Newton set out your personal history, noting that you had never participated in an intimate relationship with another person. You were an introverted and socially reticent man with limited desire for social connection with others. You pursued solitary activities in both work and recreation.
25Your chief sexual outlet has always been pornography, and Mr Newton referenced your earlier offending in 2002. As technology improved, so your consumption increased. You became habituated to pornography, resulting in an ever more compulsive search for novel material:
‘Thus, [he has] led a socially impoverished life, immersed in the dysfunctional world of online pornography for his main sexual and social outlets.’
26Your perspectives on relationships have become increasingly transactional and utilitarian, with no place for intimacy and no place for connection. You relied increasingly upon your financial resources to solicit the sexual behaviours you desire whilst simultaneously downplaying the impact of your conduct on the children and other participants with whom you were engaging. Mr Newton stated:
‘Personality traits described above are self-evidently problematic and maladaptive. They are an entrenched part of Mr Harrison's personality and have been present since he was a child. While they are not sufficiently severe to warrant the diagnosis of a fully-fledged personality disorder, they go well beyond normal levels and are noted as prominent traits of schizoid and narcissistic personality.’
27When you spoke to Mr Newton of your offending, you stressed that you had been a passive recipient of the material rather than actively seeking it out. When challenged with material which contradicted such a characterisation, you could provide no meaningful response. As Mr Newton again noted:
‘Despite his denials, the chat logs make it clear that Mr Harrison assertively directed the behaviours to meet his desires. Further, he responded with strong sexual arousal, masturbated to the material (including videoing himself doing so whilst online), saved (material) to the secure area of his mobile phone and attempted to engage some of the protagonists by actually physical encounters. In short, his involvement with this material was active, repeated and multifaceted, (pointing) to clear paedophilic deviance. His understanding of sexual matters was poor ... his limited insight constitutes a significant criminogenic risk factor. There is a likelihood that the paedophilic deviance inherent to his offending reflects a more entrenched aspect of his sexuality.’
28Of concern is that you have made limited progress in treatment sessions with Mr Burrows. You demonstrated offence minimisation, including the extremely misguided belief that children were not being harmed in the production of child abuse material if they did not appear to be distressed, and that no harm could result from accessing or soliciting child abuse material. Such cognitive distortions prevented any meaningful insight into your behaviour. Any regret that you expressed to Mr Burrows was almost entirely in response to being prosecuted, rather than a recognition of the impact of your offending upon its victims.
29Mr Newton assessed you as a moderate to high risk of further sexual offending. Although you retain the support of your brothers (Exhibits 5 and 6CH), you have relatively few supports in the community. Your offending has become known in your community of Wycheproof, and thus you could not return to live there upon eventual release. Mr Newton concludes:
‘There is a significant need for Mr Harrison to complete a comprehensive sex offender treatment program.’
30Mr Hogan, on behalf of the Commonwealth Director, set out in clear submissions the relevant sentencing principles and factors that are engaged in offending involving, as this does, the exploitation of children. They are uncontroversial and they are well established. He submitted, in short, all relevant sentencing purposes called for a term of imprisonment and the setting of a non-parole period.
31Mr McGarvie, on your behalf, conceded that a sentence of imprisonment with a non-parole period was the inevitable sentencing outcome. In mitigation of any such sentence, he urged upon me your plea, entered at the earliest opportunity – and the value of which, he said, could not be overstated and which, he submitted, enabled a reduction in the minimum term. He accepted that your prospects for rehabilitation were guarded in view of your lack of insight into your offending, but noted that you had commenced treatment. He correctly reminded me of the principles of parsimony, totality and the consequent need for some considerable concurrency.
Objective Gravity
32Mr Harrison, the offending to which you have pleaded guilty is serious offending, as is clear from the maximum penalties that Parliament has seen fit to impose.
33Quite how you had identified your correspondents is unclear: the court has been provided with no such information in that regard. What is clear, however, is that you knew what you were looking for, and you were determined and resolved to find it. You constantly asked for images of younger and younger children.
34The Internet has always been a fertile ground for predators such as yourself in which to roam in search of your prey. With more platforms providing end-to-end encryption and thus the possibility of correspondence taking place in relative secrecy, the Internet has become an even greater forum for the sharing and celebration of desires that can only be described as depraved. Desires that once upon a time would have been hidden from view and attended by those who felt them with a degree of guilt and shame but which now, it seems, are normalised and accepted in the virtual world.
35Charges 1 and 2 capture your persistent seeking out of child abuse material. Charge 5 encompasses the images you had manually saved on your devices behind password-protected folders.
36The courts have stated time and time again that those who access or possess child abuse material, when caught, will almost inevitably be met with a term of imprisonment for the simple reason that those who consume this material in any form feed the market for the abuse of children. Without customers, there would be no market, a market that is based upon a fundamental betrayal of our common humanity by the degrading and traumatising exploitation of children for the sexual gratification of others.
37The child abuse material that you stored included images of prepubescent female children engaged in penetrative acts. As I made clear, I do not identify them in any further detail. I do accept that the number of images was certainly not as extensive as is often encountered in these courts, albeit they were still significant in number. I also accept there was no suggestion of personal profit.
38Charge 3 reflects what was, in effect, a sexual performance by a child for which you had persistently negotiated, bargained and paid, and which you consumed with self-evident enjoyment, and which you then stored, password protected, on your device. It is, in my view, a serious example of the offence.
39Charge 4 reflects a further negotiation for a performance involving a seven-year-old child, a week after the conclusion of Charge 3. These charges illustrate your readiness to reduce children to objects whose purpose was merely to satisfy your deviant desires.
40Sexual offending against children, whether online or in person, will always be viewed by the courts as serious offending. There has been a growing recognition by the courts of the lasting impact that such offending has upon children and how it often leads to lives that are not fully lived. Children who have been sexually offended against have had their innocence and their sense of self stolen from them.
41When such acts are committed outside of Australia, whether in person or online, it constitutes a grotesque form of sexual colonialism. What you are doing is plundering the developing world like some robber baron. But you are not seeking their vital raw materials, but rather looking for something of far greater value: their children and thus their future.
42The courts have repeatedly stated they will do everything within their power to protect children. You were clearly driven solely by your own desires, and you acted upon them heedless of the impact of your offending upon your victim. The casual nature in which, during the chats, you complain about the poor quality of material, or about the price being sought, or that the models are not young enough, is truly chilling.
43General deterrence – that is, deterring anyone outside this court from behaving as you did – is clearly the primary sentencing purpose in offending of this kind, and in consequence, mitigatory factors such as prior good character, age and prospects of rehabilitation are all afforded less weight than they might otherwise be given in the sentencing synthesis. In your case, specific deterrence, denunciation and punishment also have much work to do.
44I note the continued support of your remaining family. However, you have made little, if any, progress in treatment to date and you have gained little insight into your offending. Apart from your plea, there is, I find, little evidence of true remorse and little evidence of an understanding of the impact of your offending upon your victims. The offending occurred over a relatively short period of time, but your desires, it seems, are longstanding. Your risk of reoffending is such that there is currently a need to protect the community from you.
45I am quite satisfied, having regard to the principles set out in s16A(1) and 17A of the Commonwealth Crimes Act and the matters listed in s16A(2), that the only appropriate sentencing disposition is a term of imprisonment and the fixing of a non-parole period.
46I have regard to the matters urged upon me by your counsel, Mr McGarvie. I accept that your plea represents a willingness to facilitate the course of justice, and I accept that it saves the community the time and expense, and perhaps the trauma of a trial. However, I note all of your offending was captured on your devices. I do not accept that your plea has the particular value contended for by Mr McGarvie.
47As has been conceded, and as you must be well aware, the objective gravity of your offending is such that it can only be met with a significant term of imprisonment.
48I am making orders for significant concurrency. All relevant sentencing purposes can, in my view, be sufficiently addressed by a sentence that does not comprise complete cumulation. To do otherwise, in my view, would result in a crushing sentence and, further, a disproportionate sentence.
Sentence
49If you would be so good as to stand, Mr Harrison.
50On Charge 1, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of two years; on Charge 2, to a term of imprisonment of 10 months; on Charge 3, to a term of imprisonment of five years and six months; on Charge 4, to a term of imprisonment of two years and nine months; on Charge 5, to a term of imprisonment of 27 months.
51The order is broken down as follows:
(i)I order that the Sentence on Charge 1 is to commence immediately.
(ii)That the Sentence on Charge 2 is to commence 2 months after the commencement of the sentence imposed on Charge 1.
(iii)That the Sentence on Charge 4 is to commence 3 months after the commencement of the sentence imposed on Charge 1.
(iv)That the Sentence on Charge 5 is to commence 12 months after the commencement of the sentence imposed on Charge 4.
(v)That the Sentence on Charge 3 is to commence 6 months after the commencement of the sentence imposed on Charge 5.
52That equals a total effective sentence of 7 years and 3 months.
53I direct that you are to serve a minimum of 5 years before being eligible for parole.
54Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), but for your plea of guilty, a total effective sentence of 9 years and 6 months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 7 years would have been imposed.
55I further declare the period that the prisoner has been in custody, namely 56 day/s, be reckoned as a period of imprisonment already served under this sentence, to be deducted administratively.
56Pursuant to s.34 Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004, you are now a registrable offender, and the period of registration is the remainder of your life.
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