R v Major

[2016] ACTSC 161

SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

Case Title:

R v Major

Citation:

[2016] ACTSC 161

Hearing Date:

24 May 2016

DecisionDate:

16 June 2016

Before:

Burns J

Decision:

See [35]-[37]

Catchwords:

CRIMINAL LAW – JURISDICTION, PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Judgment and Punishment – Sentence – particular offences – possession of child pornography – access child pornography – pleas of guilty – reasonable prospects of rehabilitation – offender has mental health issues – terms of imprisonment imposed.

Legislation Cited:

Crimes Act 1900 (ACT) s 65

Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) ss 3AL, 3E, 23ZD

Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) s 474.19(1)(a)

Cases Cited:

R v Booth [2009] NSWCCA 89

R v De Leeuw [2015] NSWCCA 183

R v Porte [2015] NSWCCA 174

Parties:

The Queen (Crown)

Christopher Major (Offender)

Representation:

Counsel

Mr E Chen (Crown)

Mr Wallace-Pannell (Offender)

Solicitors

Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutors (Crown)

ACT Legal Aid (Offender)

File Number:

SCC 35 of 2016

BURNS J:

1. Christopher Major, you entered pleas of guilty in the Magistrates Court to two offences. The first is an offence of accessing child pornography material between 5 June 2014 and 21 July 2015. This is contrary to s 474.19(1) (a)(i) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) (the Criminal Code). The maximum penalty for this offence is 15 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $153,000.

1. The second offence is one of possession of child pornography material between 5 June 2014 and 21 July 2015 contrary to s 65 of the Crimes Act 1900 (ACT). The maximum penalty for this offence is seven years imprisonment and/or a fine of $105,000. I note that you adhered to your pleas of guilty in this Court.

Background

1. On 20 July 2015, a s 3E search warrant and a s 3AL order, both under the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), were granted at Canberra by a magistrate. At 6.55 am on 21 July 2015, Australian Federal Police Child Protection Operations members attended at an address in Monash where the search warrant was executed. You were present. Also present was your mother with whom you resided.

1. You were cautioned and afforded your full legal rights in accordance with Part 1C of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). Conversations with you were recorded. During those conversations you made the following admissions and statements:

(a)you admitted to possessing child pornography material and directed police to a HP Pavilion laptop located in the garage of the premises;

(b)you admitted the laptop belonged to you and no other person used it;

(c)you supplied police with the password associated with the HP Pavilion laptop as well as the passwords to email addresses associated with you;

(d)you said that you used peer-to-peer software on a daily basis to download and view child pornography, namely, eMule and BitTorrent; and

(e)you said that you would search for files using search terms such as "young", "PTHC", meaning pre-teen hardcore, and "PTSC", meaning pre-teen softcore.

1. You also said that you preferred to look at images or videos of girls anywhere from 13…