Child pornography: Pastor found guilty

In Australia under both State and Commonwealth (Central Govt.) laws, sexualised depiction of persons under 16 (or in some cases 18) is considered to be child abuse material. Possessing, disseminating or producing child abuse material is a criminal offence. 

It is generally accepted that the internet has increased the range, volume and accessibility of sexually abusive imagery, including child pornography. Considered a “multi-faceted global menace that combines both heavily networked and highly individualised criminal behaviour”, Australia has joined many other nations in an international effort to combat it. 

Child pornography cases are reported often in media when the police have nabbed individuals and bring them to court.

Among the most recent cases is one involving a pastor in New South Wales. A father of two children, he was found guilty of possessing “gross and vile” child pornography images. He was sentenced to two years in jail in 2016 against which he appealed but he has lost the appeal and is now facing deportation at the end of the prison term.

Having moved from Malaysia when he was eight years old, the pastor had been in Australia for 35 years on a Permanent Residence (PR) visa. A person on a PR visa if sentenced to full-time imprisonment of 12 months or more, faces mandatory cancellation of the visa which means he or she has to leave the country.

The charge against the pastor was that he accessed and possessed material that depicted more than 380 child victims. When the Australian Federal Police searched the home of the pastor at the North Side Chinese Alliance Church, they seized three hard drives and two DVDs. 

The pastor was found guilty of using an internet file sharing program to download 1,806 files during a period of three years – from March 2012 to March 2015. He was also found guilty of two counts of possessing child abuse material which included 301 images and 170 video files stored on a hard drive and a DVD.

The police matched 71 of the downloaded files with “file signatures” of known child pornography.  The video files depicted victims aged between about five and 15 and had running times of between 20 seconds and 91 minutes. An estimated 80 child victims were depicted in the material downloaded from the internet. 

Reporting the outcome of the appeal which was rejected, the local newspaper Hills Shire Times reported that the lady judge found the material included “images of gross and vile exploitation of young children”. 

A few months back an Australian soldier was arrested at a Victorian army base and charged with producing and sharing child porn.

The 30-year-old Queensland man was arrested and was charged with soliciting, producing and transmitting child pornography.

Last month Australian Conservatives MP, Dr. Rachel Carling Jenkins revealed her ex-husband was convicted of having child porn in a stunning speech to Victorian parliament. When she uncovered her husband’s child porn hideaway she went straight to the police and left him.

She said the horrors of what’s happened was not about her or even her husband – but about the victims. “The faces of many are etched in my memory for eternity,” she said. “I pray the police were able to identify and rescue as many of these poor helpless and vulnerable victims as possible.”