CDirector of Public Prosecutions v Jennings-Davey
[2025] VCC 900
•30 June 2025
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
GENERAL LIST
Case No. CR-24-01101
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS (CTH) |
| v |
| DREWAN HADLEY JENNINGS-DAVEY |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE DOYLE | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF PLEA HEARING: | 10 October 2024 and 14 March 2025 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 30 June 2025 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | CDPP v Jennings-Davey | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 900 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence
Catchwords: Guilty plea - Transmission of child abuse material - Indecent communications to a child under the age of 16 - Producing child abuse material - Possessing and controlling child abuse material – 24 years old at the time of offences – Plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity - Klinefelter syndrome – Intellectual disability – Reduced moral culpability.
Legislation Cited: Commonwealth Crimes Act 1914; Sentencing Act 1991; Sex Offenders Registration Act2004.
Cases Cited:Muldrock v The Queen (2011) 244 CLR 120; R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102.
Sentence: TES: Two year Community Correction Order with Justice Plan.
s6AAA: Two years’ imprisonment with a Recognisance Release Order after six months.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr T. Wallwork | Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms L. Dubroja | CP Law |
HIS HONOUR:
1Drewan Hadley Jennings-Davey, you have pleaded guilty to eight offences under the Criminal Code (Cth) relating to the transmission of child abuse material and indecent communications to a child under the age of 16. You have also pleaded guilty to producing child abuse material and possessing and controlling child abuse material. The maximum penalties for Charges 1 to 3 and 5 to 8 is 15 years’ imprisonment. The maximum penalty for Charge 4 of transmitting indecent communications to a person believed to be under the age of 16 is 10 years’ imprisonment.
2The offences are based on your involvement with child abuse material via the Telegram social messaging application between 6 May 2023 and 17 September 2023.
3The facts are set out in a lengthy Prosecution Opening and the annexures which were tendered as exhibits at the plea hearing.
4During the offending you communicated with fifty separate recipients, some of whom represented to you that they were under the age of 16.
5During these conversations on the internet you:
(a) transmitted, solicited and/or exchanged child abuse material with 38 recipients who represented themselves as being over 16 – That is the basis for Charge 1;
(b) transmitted, solicited and/or caused child abuse material to be transmitted to yourself in the course of conversations with five recipients who represented themselves as being under 16. That is the basis for Charges 3 and 7;
(c) transmitted communications that were either indecent or transmitted for the purposes of procuring the recipient for sexual activity with the belief the recipient was aged under 16 – that is the basis for Charges 2 and 4;
(d) exchanged child abuse material with multiple recipients via a Telegram group chat – that is the basis for Charge 5;
(e) edited the image of a recipient who represented herself as being under the age of 16 years so as to produce child abuse material which you later transmitted to a different recipient – that is the basis for Charge 6; and
(f) possessed 2,491 files identified as child abuse material across three electronic devices and one iCloud storage service which were all either Category 4, Category 1 or Category 2 material – That is the basis for Charge 8.
6That is a very broad outline of the offences. I do not propose to summarise in detail the Prosecution Opening but in the original prosecution sentencing submissions, there are further relevant summaries of the offences which I will refer to.
7Charge 1 involved transmitting, receiving and requesting child abuse material with 38 different recipients over four months. Most of the individual conversations took place over one or two days. The conversations each involved multiple transmissions of images, videos and/or text-based child abuse material.
8In total, you transmitted or caused yourself to receive approximately 368 files constituting child abuse material. The nature of the material was grave, it included depictions of real children as young as toddlers being sexually penetrated by adults, infants, with a focus on their genital area; and there were other aggravating aspects of the conversation.
9Charge 2 involved conversations with a 15-year-old that spanned 20 days. You persistently attempted to video call the recipient and in the course of attempting to procure her for sexual activity, you made repeated requests that she send you sexualised material of herself. She indicated she was at school. You were aware of her age from the outset of the conversation, and you introduced the topic of incest. You used the transmission of child abuse material as an inducement for the recipient to continue engaging in the conversation.
10Then Charge 3, where there is an overlap with Charge 2, involved you transmitting and requesting child abuse material from recipients who represented themselves as being under 16, thereby exposing them to harmful sexualised material. The offending took place over a month. It is all described in detail in the Prosecution Opening. In total, you transmitted 37 images and videos constituting child abuse material.
11Charge 4 related to a short conversation where you told a 13-year-old that you wished to see him naked.
12Charge 5 involved you transmitting material to three users simultaneously in a group chat and receiving material from those users. The material was of a high level of seriousness involving real children between one and six years old and included depictions of penetrative sexual activity.
13Charges 6 and 7 involved you regularly, over a period of two days, engaging with a 14-year-old which resulted in you receiving child abuse material created at your direction. You later edited that material with the intention of transmitting it to another person.
14Charge 8 is the possession charge, which as I said earlier, involved 2,491 child abuse images and videos. The Category 1 material included a video of a four-month infant being penetrated by an adult male and a scene involving penetrative group sex between adult men and a prepubescent female child. The Category 2 material included a video of a 15-year-old female in visible distress crying and in pain while being sexually penetrated.
15The maximum penalties reflect the gravity of these offences. The sentencing principles for offences such as this are well established and are set out in detail in the prosecution submissions and they are accepted by the defence.
16Several of the charges here were rolled-up charges and reflected multiple occasions of offending which would each have been capable of sustaining a separate charge. I must have regard to the totality of the conduct contained within the charges, and I accept the prosecution's submission that the criminality involved in those charges is greater than were it a single instance.
17I accept the prosecution's submission that, objectively, this offending is grave and a serious example of these types of charges, and were it not for your personal circumstances, particularly your intellectual disability, you would most certainly have been sentenced to a period of immediate imprisonment.
Personal Circumstances.
18You were born in March 1999. You were 24 years old at the time of the offending. You were living in Yarrawonga with your mother.
19Police attended on 18 September 2023 and executed the search warrant. When you were interviewed by police on that same day you were in the company of an independent third person due to your intellectual disability.
20You gave largely 'no comment' answers in response to specific allegations but you did make the following comments:
(a) you admitted to police they would find child pornography and child abuse material on your phone;
(b) you said you have Klinefelter syndrome and autism but, in your opinion, the autism does not affect you;
(c) the tablet device belongs to your mother, but you use it to watch television;
(d) you use your phone every day and no-one else uses your phone;
(e) you use the Telegram application for sharing child abuse material;
(f) you do not know the people you speak to on Telegram;
(g) you use Telegram because it is encrypted; however, you were not able to explain what 'encrypted' meant;
(h) if your mother knew about this, she would take your phone off you;
(i) you said what you did was 'sick' and you were 'twisted in the head';
(j) you said of the material on your phone, 'I know it’s graphic - not graphic but messed up'.
21You were charged at Yarrawonga police station after the interview.
22You are now 26 years old; you were 24 years old when this offending occurred.
23You were born in Wangaratta, but you grew up in Myrtleford. Your family later moved to Horsham and then returned to Yarrawonga. Your parents separated when you were 11 years old in the context of your father’s alcoholism and family violence. Your father moved to Queensland with your younger brother. You have had limited contact with them and your father died of a heart attack in October 2023.
24Your mother remarried when you were 11 years old and your family moved to Horsham. Your mother and stepfather divorced when you were 18 years old.
25Your mother was your main support growing up. She worked in aged care and disability. I am told she is currently not working and is waiting to have a hip replacement.
26In Grade 3 you moved to the Wangaratta Special School. You formed ‘good friendships' at that school. The other students had a mixture of physical, intellectual and some other disabilities.
27Your family moved to Horsham in 2012 and then you went to the Horsham Special School from Year 7 in 2013. You finished Year 12 there at a school which did not offer either VCAL or VCE. You left school in 2017.
28You then worked in a café run by the school.
29Your mother has had a prolonged battle with cancer which included two separate long-term admissions to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. When that happened, you were supported by friends who moved into your home in Horsham during that treatment. You and your mother returned to live in Yarrawonga at the end of 2022.
30You have recently been working at a paint centre, but you were asked to leave that employment after your charges were reported in the local newspaper, and you were named. You are now doing yard maintenance through a disability agency. You earn an income additional to your Disability Support Pension. Your mother handles your finances, and she gives you money when you ask for it. You also receive support through the NDIS and your worker attended court on several occasions when this matter was listed.
31I received a report from Dr Danny Sullivan, a forensic psychiatrist. Dr Sullivan reviewed earlier psychological reports.
32A neuropsychologist, Margaret Scott, noted in 2007 the following:
Developmental delay, limited speech, poor social skills and motor difficulties. Some behavioural issues were also observed. [Your] full-scale IQ was assessed at 58 but with relative strengths in verbal comprehension and working memory.
You were functioning at a level between Prep and Grade 1. The report recommended assessment for a special school placement.
33Ms Scott provided a further report in April 2010. Noted in that report was that you had been diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome. Your full-scale IQ on testing was 48. Your adaptive behaviour was in the range of a 'mild deficit' equivalent to an IQ between 50 and 70. You were within the range of moderate intellectual disability.
34On 5 January 2024, an occupational therapist, Ms M McKee, provided an NDIS functional cognition report which suggested adaptive functioning difficulties.
35A further report from psychologist Cindy Parsons dated 16 January 2024 was prepared for the NDIS. This report followed referral from your mother because of concerns regarding 'maladaptive social behaviours'. The report notes you were bullied in early primary school and went to Wangaratta Special School. The report notes a diagnose of Klinefelter syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. It was noted that everywhere you go you carry a backpack containing a range of objects most of which have no functional significance. Your IQ was tested again, resulting in a full-scale IQ of 65 which is in the range of mild intellectual disability. Your verbal comprehension was considered low compared with other scales. You had significant impairments in adaptive functioning in all domains at lower than the first percentile. You also had social communication difficulties and limited emotional interaction. You were assessed as meeting the criteria for autism spectrum disorder.
36Dr Sullivan spoke with your mother who told him that you were once interested in a girl at school, but this was only a friendship. She was not aware of you ever having had a sexual relationship. She told Dr Sullivan you are well supported by the NDIS providers and your mental health team.
37Dr Sullivan described you as having a congenital developmental disability associated with learning difficulties and earlier mild severity childhood emotional and behavioural difficulties. He noted you have never lived independently, and you have had no intimate relationships in your life. He noted that cognitive testing places you in the mild to moderate range of intellectual disabilities. In his opinion, you meet the criteria for a mild intellectual disability, and he agreed you have autism spectrum disorder at Level 2 severity. This disorder includes symptoms of poor social communication, concrete thinking and social anxiety.
38He also diagnosed you as having an adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood. He says you are highly reliant on your mother, who is dealing with her own health issues.
39He says in his report, 'It is not clear that Mr Jennings-Davey would meet a diagnosis of paedophilia'. He described you as having a 'cursory understanding of sexual matters'. He says your interest in pornography and progression to viewing it and seeking out child abuse material remains unclear. He said that a provisional diagnosis of non-exclusive heterosexual paedophilia is appropriate.
40He says you are not an elevated risk of reoffending compared to other child abuse material offenders.
41He says your intellectual disability is 'moderately causally associated with the conduct'. He says your cognitive impairment is associated with a reduction in your capacity to think clearly and make rational choices. He regards your judgement as having been modestly impaired, reflecting your limited capacity and experience of actual sexual interactions with people.
42He says your understanding of the wrongfulness of your conduct was not impaired by your intellectual disability.
43You have limited skills to manage social interactions with others, and you would be vulnerable to bullying in a prison environment.
44He was of the view that if a non-custodial disposition is imposed a Community Correction Order with a justice plan would be the best way for you to be managed. He says that standard sex offender treatment programs are not likely to be effective for you, due to your disability.
45He says you need ongoing mental health support and that potentially a drug such as Sertraline may be appropriate, and that Sertraline is associated with the modest reduction in sexual preoccupation.
46He said sexual offending in people with Klinefelter syndrome is complex. He said that some testosterone supplementation may be required.
47Your counsel submitted that your offending occurred in circumstances where you were socially isolated after leaving Horsham and relocating to Yarrawonga. You were employed but you otherwise had limited social connections.
48Your counsel, Ms Dubroja, referred to the factors I must have regard to under s16A of the Crimes Act (Cth). She conceded that this offending is regarded as morally depraved and that possession of such material creates a continuing market for the corruption and exploitation of children. Furthermore, she accepted these are not victimless crimes and actual children are harmed in the production of child abuse material.
49Of course, general deterrence is ordinarily the primary sentencing purpose and generally for offences as serious as this, a period of imprisonment would be the outcome.
50However, you pleaded guilty to the offending at the earliest opportunity after some negotiation. That is a significant mitigating matter that I take into account. You also co-operated with the police by giving them your passcode, and you made relevant admissions in your record of interview. Those admissions demonstrate you understand the wrongfulness of your actions.
51Your counsel referred to the High Court decision of Muldrock,[1] where the High Court said in respect of sentencing offenders with an intellectual disability:
…Because of the lack of capacity to reason as an ordinary person might as to the wrongfulness of the conduct, in most cases that will substantially lessen the offender’s moral culpability. The retributive effect and denunciatory aspect of a sentence that is appropriate to a person of ordinary capacity will often be inappropriate to the situation of a mentally retarded offender and to the needs of the community.[2]
[1]Muldrock v The Queen (2011) CLR 120 at 139, paragraph [54]
[2](Ibid) at paragraph [54]
52Your counsel submitted your moral culpability is significantly reduced by your intellectual capacity and furthermore that considerations of general and specific deterrence should be moderated.
53The prosecution accepted the application of the Muldrock principles, which are essentially the same as the Verdins[3] principles, and therefore accepted general deterrence is of substantially less weight than it would be in an offender without an intellectual disability.
[3]R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102; 16 VR 269; 169 A Crim R 581
54Insofar as I need to, I accept that exceptional circumstances in this case exist, based on your mental capacity and your social isolation. I accept your moral culpability is reduced by your intellectual disability and that I must substantially moderate the sentences imposed in this case.
55I also accept the principles in relation to young offenders have some application to you in your circumstances and that the need to facilitate your rehabilitation must be given substantial emphasis in this case.
56You are a 24-year-old man with an intellectual disability who lives a relatively lonely and isolated life supported by your mother and your NDIS worker.
57In those circumstances, I accept, and the prosecution concede, the existence of exceptional circumstances, and based on what Dr Sullivan says, as to the best disposition to support your rehabilitation, I intend to impose a Community Correction Order in this case, Mr Jennings-Davey.
58What I intend to do is place you on a Community Correction Order for a period of two years.
59I am ordering 200 hours of unpaid community work. Fifty hours of what you perform on program conditions can be deducted from the overall unpaid community work.
60The other conditions will be treatment for mental health as directed, offending behaviour programs as directed, supervision and a Justice plan. That is open to intellectually disabled offenders such as yourself.
61I have received an extended pre-sentence report, a disability overview report and a Justice plan, and I have had regard to the contents of those documents, as did the crown in supporting the further submissions made both this morning, and in their additional written submissions dated 27 June 2025.
62Do you agree to a Community Correction Order in those terms.
63ACCUSED: Yes, I do, Your Honour.
64HIS HONOUR: All right, can we print that out. Now just while that's being done, there are core conditions of all these orders. The first and most significant is that if you re-offend you breach the order. If you breach the order, you are brought back before me, you are charged with contravening the order, and I must punish you for that. What's more, I must consider what happens with the order and one of the options would be to cancel the order and re-sentence you. We go back to the start, and I would have to then consider what sentence to impose.
65I would be running out of options here, Mr Jennings-Davey, other than a prison sentence.
66ACCUSED: Yes.
67HIS HONOUR: If you commit further offences of this nature, you will almost certainly go to prison. And furthermore, if you commit further offences of this nature - I don't have the provisions in front of me - but some very draconian penalties start to apply for repeat offenders for Commonwealth child sex offences, and you can end up in prison for years. Do you understand.
68ACCUSED: Yes, I do.
69HIS HONOUR: You need to stay away from this sort of material.
70You must accept lawful directions from Office of Corrections. You must also accept any visits and attend as requested by Office of Corrections. If you are changing your address you need to tell them. If you are leaving Victoria, you need to tell them and that's what we were discussing this morning.
71I will make a note on my orders which can go to Corrections that it's understood you live in Yarrawonga, and you work from time to time in Mulwala and therefore you need to cross the border. So, you simply tell Corrections, and they'll know that you work in Mulwala and that will allow you to cross the border.
72Now, Ms Dubroja will take this document down to you and if you could sign it and then I'll sign it. This is the Community Correction Order document, all right.
73Now, you can't re-offend, do you understand.
74ACCUSED: Yeah, I understand.
75HIS HONOUR: You cannot look at this sort of material on the internet.
76ACCUSED: I understand that.
77HIS HONOUR: All right. Or engage in any of these discussions, do you follow.
78ACCUSED: I understand.
79HIS HONOUR: The material you were looking at was repulsive material, all right.
80MS DUBROJA: Your Honour, the SORA information is also on here - - -
81HIS HONOUR: Yes.
82MS DUBROJA: So, I explained that at the same time.
83HIS HONOUR: Yes, all right. What is the SORA again. Is it life. It's Class 2. I can't remember. Mr Wallwork, do you remember.
84MR WALLWORK: I'm just checking that, Your Honour, I'm sorry. Your Honour, it's at the opening, 174 to 175.
85HIS HONOUR: Yes, it's in the opening.
86MR WALLWORK: It's life, reporting for life.
87HIS HONOUR: Life, right, yes.
88MR WALLWORK: I thought so. 6AAA.
89HIS HONOUR: Two years with recognisance release after six months.
90MR WALLWORK: As Your Honour pleases.
91HIS HONOUR: You need to understand - look, those obligations are onerous, Mr Jennings-Davey, and if you don't comply with the Sex Offenders Registration obligations that's an offence and that would breach the Correction order if you were to not comply with those obligations. They are onerous obligations but in the circumstances they're mandatory, so I must make those orders, and I will.
92Nothing else I need to do here.
93MS DUBROJA: No, Your Honour.
94MR WALLWORK: No, Your Honour.
95HIS HONOUR: All right, so do you follow all that.
96ACCUSED: Yes - - -
97HIS HONOUR: Two years - if you get through these two years it's finished. You've got 200 hours; you can take 50 hours off for the things you do on other parts of this Correction order. So, if you do 50 hours on offending behaviour programs well that can be subtracted.
98ACCUSED: Yes.
99HIS HONOUR: But I want you to do some community work. There needs to be some punishment here. Then you've got your other conditions, the Justice plan and all these other orders, all right. So, because of your intellectual condition, I have decided that it's not appropriate to put you in prison, that I should adopt a disposition that is designed to facilitate your rehabilitation but which reflects your intellectual disability. But you don't get multiple opportunities for a disposition like this, for this type of offending, do you understand.
100ACCUSED: Yes.
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