Edmonton university student Ronald Baxter Atu once caught with 100,000 child abuse images busted again
A Cairns university student has been caught again with child abuse material while on probation – having previously served time for being busted with an extraordinary number of child abuse images.
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A Cairns university student has been caught again with child abuse material while on parole and having previously served time after being busted with 100,000 child abuse images in 2010.
Ronald Baxter Atu, 44 of Edmonton, is charged with using a carriage service to access child abuse material and seven counts of failing to comply with his sex offender reporting obligations under the Child Protection (Offender Reporting) Act.
The Cairns District Court was told that on November 2, 2022, Mr Atu was arrested after police found six images of pre-pubescent and older male children in “sexual poses” with their genitalia showing on his phone.
He downloaded the images between August and October 2022.
The fail to comply charges came about after police found he had downloaded Telegram – an encrypted instant messaging service, a WhatsApp account, several unreported email addresses, had an unreported internet service, and had also used a torrent site.
The court also heard that Mr Atu had used a “forensic cleaning device” in an attempt to remove images from his computer but these merely resulted in the images being stored in a part of the computer that he couldn’t access, but police later could.
Mr Atu was released from prison on June 3, 2022 after being found guilty for possessing child exploitation material, as well as failing to report social media accounts and several new email address.
He had spent just over 300 days in custody and when released on June 3, was placed on 788 days probation.
Mr Atu was still on probation when the latest offences, to which he has pleaded guilty in Cairns District Court on March 27, 2024, occurred.
More than a decade ago, the Edmonton man was sentenced to five years in prison on June 14, 2012 after downloading almost 100,000 child exploitation images and sharing a quarter of them with other people.
Some of the children were as young as one.
The court heard that a psychologist had assessed Mr Atu and believed he met the criteria to be diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder.
Mr Atu will return to court to be sentenced on April 18, 2024.
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Originally published as Edmonton university student Ronald Baxter Atu once caught with 100,000 child abuse images busted again
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