Director of Public Prosecutions v Hammond (a pseudonym)
[2025] VCC 72
•7 February 2025
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| RORY HAMMOND (a pseudonym) |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE HARPER | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 23 January 2025 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 7 February 2025 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Hammond (a pseudonym) | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 72 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Incest, produce child pornography, possess CAM, distribute CAM
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 (Vic)
Cases Cited:DPP v Polat [2020] VSCA 174, Hutchinson v the King [2022] VSCA 2175, DPP v T D J; DPP v M S [2009] VSCA 317, DPP v McKinley (a pseudonym) [2022] VCC 2066; DPP v Talbot (a pseudonym) [2024] VSCA 321.
Sentence: TES: 12 years NPP 7 years 9 months
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms J. Malobabic | Ms A. Hogan, Solicitor for Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr N. Howard | VLA Melbourne |
HER HONOUR:
1Rory Hammond,[1] you have pleaded guilty before me to two charges of incest, charges 1 and 3, two charges of producing child pornography, charges 2 and 4, and one charge each of possessing and distributing child abuse material (‘CAM’), charges 5 and 6.
[1] A pseudonym.
2The maximum penalty for incest is 25 years. For producing child pornography, possessing CAM and distributing CAM, the maximum penalty is 10 years in relation to each individual charge.
Circumstances of offending
3Your offending was comprehensively outlined in the Amended Summary of Prosecution Opening dated 22 January 2025. I will outline those circumstances here.
4You were in a relationship with Margaret Shields,[2] for approximately 3 years from 2010. She already had two children, a son and a daughter, the latter being the complainant Audrey Gilmore,[3] who was born in November 2008.
[2] A pseudonym.
[3] A pseudonym.
5On the evening of 23 May 2024, police executed a search warrant at the home you shared with your partner and two adult sons. When police explained why they were there, you disclosed that you had previously uploaded CAM to Dropbox some 10 years earlier.
6Investigators seized several electronic devices including a black iPhone and a green iPhone Pro which were subject to further analysis. You provided passwords for some of the devices and stated that you could not remember others.
7Forensic examination revealed 16 images and 4 videos classified as Category 1 CAM on the iPhone and 6 images and 6 videos classified as Category 1 CAM on the iPhone Pro.
8Police were able to identify Margaret Shields from the images and thereafter, Audrey Gilmore.
Charge 1 – incest
9On an occasion between 6 February 2012 and 5 December 2013, you penetrated Audrey Gilmore’s vagina with your fingers in the family home. She was aged between 3 and 5 years at the time.
Charge 2 – production of child pornography
10On the same occasion as in charge 1, you produced a photograph depicting your fingers penetrating Audrey’s vagina and your erect penis between her legs, on the outside of her vagina. The photograph was taken using your mobile phone.
Charge 3 – incest
11On an occasion between 6 February 2012 and 5 December 2013, you penetrated Audrey Gilmore’s mouth with your penis. She was aged between 3 and 5 years at the time.
Charge 4 – production of child pornography
12On the same occasion as in charge 3, you produced 3 photographs depicting your penis penetrating Audrey’s mouth.
13You also produced one photograph of Margaret Shields licking your penis with Audrey’s tongue close to your penis. I note this is an uncharged act.
Charge 5 – possess child abuse material
14A number of images and videos of Audrey Gilmore were located on your mobile phone, together with CAM sent to and from you in a WhatsApp conversation with a user called ‘Ann.’
15On 23 May 2024, police located a number of images of Audrey. I will not repeat the depraved content of the images and videos here, but note they were fully described in the prosecution opening. They included videos ranging from 8 to 12 seconds in length and included nudity and penetration of Audrey when she was aged between 3 and 5 years. These images were not shared from your phone.
16By way of context, police also located a non-CAM video of you masturbating in which you are heard to address ‘Audrey.’
17Forensic analysis of your iPhone showed that on 16 May 2024, you participated in a WhatsApp conversation with a woman who identified as ‘Ann' from the Philippines. You engaged in sexually explicit discussion about her 10-year-old daughter and requested images of the child’s vagina.
18Ann sent you multiple images and requested PayPal payment in return. Again, I will not repeat the graphic nature of the images here, but they involved children aged between 5 and 18 engaging in various penetrative sex acts with adults.
Charge 6 – distribute child abuse material
19During your conversations with Ann on 16 May 2024, you sent her Category 1 CAM of children aged between 5 and 18 engaging in penetrative sex acts with adults. You made vulgar and explicit comments about the images.
Record of Interview
20On 31 May 2024 you were interviewed by police and stated that:
(a) You were interested in girls from 13 to 18 years of age;
(b) You accessed dating websites where people would offer to send pictures in exchange for money;
(c) You were asked if you ever initiated the conversation and said “I think a couple of times I have. You might ask if they got a daughter, that would be the start. Because I wanted to see images or videos of their daughter” ... “The purpose of the messaging was to fulfil my needs I guess,”
(d) “A lot of times they would continue to ask for money, and I wouldn’t reply. Then they would continue to send images, which obviously I would open”;
(e) “I was trying to get something in return, yeah. Some sort of images or videos in return. It was never a financial thing or anything like that,”
(f) You possessed child abuse material relating to Audrey around the time you were living with Margaret Shields. Audrey would have been 3 or 4. “Margaret initiated a little bit of that too. Sort of play with her daughter and stuff like that. I obviously took part in it and wasn’t forced in doing it,”
(g) Audrey “used to sleep naked with us and Margaret would like, put her on me and rub her on me and stuff like that,”
(h) You admitted to taking the images of Audrey;
(i) You knew that it was a criminal offence at the time;
(j) '”I’ve got a problem, I’ve got a sickness, but I don’t want to hurt a child,” and
(k) “I’m embarrassed and disgusted in myself. I don’t know why I do it. Clearly need help.”
Offence gravity
21Your offending is plainly very serious. Your conduct is of a particularly depraved nature, given that you engaged in acts of penetration with a child between the ages of 3-5 years, together with your de facto partner, the mother of your victim. Your offending is further aggravated by you continuing to victimise the child by taking and retaining photographs of her in sexually explicit positions.
22Incest is a crime against vulnerable children and a gross breach of trust. Your victim Audrey Gilmore was between the ages of 3 and 5. You and your then partner, the victim's mother, violated her in the most unthinkable ways. Such offending calls for severe punishment. That Audrey did not disclose the offending to police does not lessen the likely impact upon her, nor does the absence of a Victim Impact Statement.
23I consider your offending to be serious examples of the offence of incest because the offending was committed in company, on more than one occasion and because it was photographed.
24Additionally, your offending involved online abuse of a number of very young children.
25When sentencing for CAM offences, there is a well-established list of considerations to be taken into account. These include:
(i)The nature and content of the material;
(ii)The number of items or images possessed;
(iii)Whether the material is for the purpose of sale or further distribution;
(iv)Whether an offender will profit from the offence;
(v)The number of children depicted and thereby victimised; and
(vi)The length of time for which the pornographic material was possessed.
26You produced the photographs of Audrey Gilmore in charges 2 and 4 in 2012-2013. You were in possession of 6 further explicit videos and 5 further images of Audrey in 2024 as per charge 5.
27There were relatively few images in total, some 22 images and 10 videos (of Audrey and other children) however they were of a vulgar and explicit nature.
28The number of images represents a number of child victims, including Audrey Gilmore, who were harmed in the production of these items. They were being violated in the most unimaginable ways, in Audrey’s case by those adults who were supposed to care for and protect her.
29Each and every image involves a child victim. These are crimes which cause real and lasting harm to the children who are subjected to abuse for the vile gratification of offenders like you. The public interest in the protection of children is high. While you stated you ‘never wanted to hurt a child,’ that is exactly what you have done.
30You did not profit from the images. You engaged in conversation with Ann, who was seeking payment for images of her daughter. Ann was clearly a conduit for you to source images and videos of children engaging in sexual activity. You also sent her child abuse material showing children in depraved situations.
31I note the overlap in the images of children other than Audrey possessed in charge 5 and distributed in charge 6 and take this into account when passing sentence upon you.
Plea of guilty and remorse
32You have entered an early plea to the charges before the court and you have saved the community the time and expense of running a trial. As such, you have facilitated the administration of justice and you are entitled to a benefit for the utilitarian value of your plea.
33
By your plea of guilty, you have also demonstrated an acceptance of responsibility for your offending, together with remorse. This remorse was expressed to
Dr Barth, whose report I shall return to. You told him “It is so wrong. I’ve never wanted to hurt a child, but there is some attraction (to children). Obviously there is a sick part of my brain with kids. I’m disgusted with what I did, all of it. I need help to understand why I did it.”
Personal circumstances and psychological report
34I turn now to your personal circumstances.
35You are now 57 years of age, having been born Melbourne in 1967.
36You have two older and one younger sister and had a fairly positive childhood. You moved out of the family home when you were 18 and retain a good relationship with both your parents and your younger sister.
37Your father suffered a stroke a number of years ago and his health has since declined. You have not told him of your offending, however you have revealed the charges to your mother.
38You were educated to Year 10 and then attempted a sheet metal apprenticeship but were subjected to quite extreme bullying and abuse.
39You then moved to Canada and ultimately to New York where you worked for an uncle.
40You returned to Australia and have held positions at a number of hotels as night manager and concierge. You have always been gainfully employed and have demonstrated a strong work ethic. You have recently resigned from your position as a hotel concierge due to your impending remand.
41Your first long term relationship was for 3.5 years when you were 18. You then married another woman in 1997 and divorced in 2003. There were two sons of this relationship, now aged 25 and 23, who have resided with you for a number of years.
42You formed a relationship with Margaret Shields in 2010, your co-accused, from whom you separated in 2014. She had 2 children of her own, one of whom is the complainant, Audrey Gilmore, and together you had twins, now aged 13. Upon your separation, she moved all of her children interstate. You paid child support for the twins until the detection of this offending, when the children were moved into State care.
43You were then married again in 2019 but divorced in 2021 when your wife obtained her visa.
44You are now in a relationship with a woman who is in Australia on a visa. Without your support, she will have to return overseas. She and your sons know of your offending.
45I received a psychological report from Dr Mathew Barth dated January 2025. You disclosed to him that you commenced viewing internet-based pornography during the late 1990s and this has increased during the past six or so years. You expressed guilt about viewing CAM but provided no explanation for doing so.
46While you have a history of binge drinking, particularly in response to relationship problems, you have no history of illicit substance use. You have experienced periods of depression, again largely due to relationship stress and breakdown. You have, in the past, felt suicidal but have never attempted self-harm. You have initiated phone contact with Beyond Blue.
47You have experienced intense reactive depression after being charged but do not meet the criteria for any mood, anxiety or adjustment disorder. You expressed shame, disgust and remorse for your offending conduct and indicated a desire for help ‘to understand why [you] did it.’
48Dr Barth diagnoses you with paedophilic disorder – nonexclusive type, sexually attracted to females. “The fact that [you have] accessed pornographic material depicting children and [have] previously acted out this sexually explicit behaviour with a female child in the ‘real world’ clearly indicated deviant sexual cognitions and arousal patterns involving underage individuals.” He states that “there were clear issues with [your] interpersonal and sexual adjustment.”
Sentencing principles and considerations
49This was truly abhorrent offending. You willingly engaged in the conduct, knowing full well that it was wrong and indeed a criminal offence. I consider your moral culpability to be very high.
50Given the serious nature and the type of charges which you face, general deterrence is the most important sentencing consideration. Other members of the community must be deterred from committing similar offences and it must be understood that stern punishment will follow should they do so.
51
No child should be treated in the way you and your then partner treated
Audrey Gilmore. Further, internet crime such as yours is increasingly prevalent offending and is often difficult to detect. It creates a market for the exploitation of vulnerable children. Children in the community must be protected from you.
52You must also be specifically deterred from engaging in this type of conduct in future. You have an irrelevant criminal history, however the charge period spans some 12 years. The sentence I impose must make it clear to you that this offending is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by the court or the community.
53The breach of trust you inflicted on a vulnerable, 3 to 5 year old child and the non-contact abuse of so many other young children by way of possession of CAM means just punishment and denunciation loom large in your case.
54I consider your prospects of rehabilitation to be entirely contingent on your meaningful participation in the sex offender treatment program. You have offended over a period of 12 years. You concede that what you did was wrong and that you need help, but you have not sought help of your own volition in the time since you were charged.
55Should I impose a period of imprisonment on charges 1 and 2, which I am going to do, you will fall to be sentenced as a Serious Sexual Offender on charges 3 to 6. It is open to me to then impose a disproportionate sentence on those charges but the prosecution does not submit that I should do so and I do not intend to do so.
56Maragret Shields has been arrested and charged interstate with child sexual offences, and I am informed that there will be an application to extradite her to Victoria in relation to matters arising together with your offending when any interstate sentence expires.
57You have provided a statement to police implicating Margaret Shields in some of the charges which you face. You have also provided an undertaking to assist the authorities in any future prosecution of Margaret Shields. While one would assume that the photographs and videos in which she features make for a reasonably strong prosecution case against her, I accept that your statement will be of some assistance to the authorities in placing her in Victoria at the time of the offending. I take this into account and apply a discount to your sentence based on your undertaking and your cooperation in this way.
58I also take in to account the principle of totality and apply it to the charges, noting in particular that some of the images in charge 5, possess CAM, are duplicated in charge 6, the distribution of CAM.
59I was referred to 2 authorities by the prosecution, DPP v Polat [2020] VSCA 174 and Hutchinson v The King [2022] VSCA 2175. I had also considered a number of other cases including DPP v TDJ; DPP v MS [2009] VSCA 317, DPP v McKinley (a pseudonym) [2022] VCC 2066 and DPP v Talbot (a pseudonym) [2024] VSCA 321.
Disposition
60On Charge 1, incest, you are sentenced to 6 years and 6 months imprisonment.
61On Charge 2, produce child pornography, you are sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
62On Charge 3, incest, you are sentenced to 6 years and 6 months imprisonment.
63On Charge 4, produce child pornography, you are sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
64On Charge 5, possessing child abuse material, you are sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
65On Charge 6, distributing child abuse material, you are sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.
66I direct that charge 1 be the base sentence.
67I direct that 6 months of the sentence on charge 2, 3 years 6 months of the sentence on charge 3, 6 months of the sentence on charge 4, 10 months of the sentence on charge 5 and 2 months of the sentence on charge 6 be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed on charge 1 and on each other.
68That makes a total effective sentence of 12 years imprisonment.
69I direct that you serve a minimum non-parole period of 7 years and 9 months imprisonment before being eligible for release on parole.
70
Pursuant to s 18 of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), I declare that you have served
15 days by way of pre-sentence detention excluding today.
71Pursuant to s 6B of the Sentencing Act 1991, having sentenced you to a term of imprisonment on charges 1 and 2, you are to be declared a serious sexual offender on charges 3 to 6. This will be noted on the record.
72Pursuant to s 34(1)(c)(i) of the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 (Vic), I declare that you are to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for the remainder of your life.
73Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare that had you not pleaded guilty, the sentence I would have imposed, would have been a total effective sentence of 16 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 years and 6 months.
74
I grant the forfeiture order applied for by the prosecution and I will now have you sign the paperwork for the acknowledgement of Sex Offenders Registration.
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