Identity of Teacher on Child Porn Charges Suppressed to Prevent Embarrassment to School
By Louise Hall
A Sydney judge has suppressed the name of a Catholic primary school teacher who has pleaded guilty to child pornography offences to "limit the embarrassment and distress" of the school. In the Downing Centre District Court on Thursday, a 59-year-old man admitted to accessing, transmitting and possessing thousands of images and videos of child abuse material. The court heard between 2011 and 2014 the man used the internet to download child porn for his "sexual gratification". At the time of his arrest in September 2014, the man was a teacher and e-learning co-ordinator at a Catholic primary school in Sydney's south-west. Advertisement Following pleas of guilty to one count of transmitting, one count of accessing and three counts of possessing child abuse material, Judge Chris Craigie made a non-publication order on the man's name following an application by the Commonwealth DPP. Judge Craigie said the order was intended "to limit the embarrassment and distress to the students who might be identified by way of the school or schools being identified". He said the order is "intended to protect innocent persons" at the school. There is no suggestion any students from the school were featured in the child abuse material. Judge Craigie said: "There is no relevant nexus between his occupation and his offences before the court". He also suppressed the name of any schools the man had previously taught at. Character references were tendered, including one from the parish priest at the man's local church. Police found "a number of computers with extensive images of young children in various sexual poses" at his home including 1514 images and videos on an external hard drive, 452 images on a USB flash drive and 188 on his MacBook. Between 23 and 27 September, the man uploaded five or six child pornography images to a website at the request of a person he was chatting to online. The website was being monitored by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States. NCMEC staff had determined that the material had been uploaded from an Internet Protocol address in Australia and referred the matter to Australian authorities. The NSW Police's Sex Crimes Squad's Child Exploitation Internet Unit (CEIU) began an investigation to determine who was responsible for uploading the material and raided the man's Sydney home. The court heard that the man expects to be sentenced to a jail term. Judge Craigie ordered the man undergo a pre-sentence assessment by Community Corrections. He will remain on bail until the hearing resumes on December 14.
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