‘Sex terrorist’ pedophile Geoffrey William Moyle’s eight-year sentence revoked on appeal, replaced with 12-year term

The Adelaide-based “sex terrorist” who pioneered the dark web’s vile global child exploitation industry has been resentenced in a decision set to change Australian law.

An Adelaide man dubbed a “sex terrorist” for pioneering the global child exploitation industry will remain behind bars until 2032 – setting a new Australian standard for such crimes.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal revoked Geoffrey William Moyle’s existing eight-year sentence, for abusing and filming child sex slaves, and replaced it with a 12-year term.

The sentence is just shy of the 14-year term sought by Commonwealth prosecutors and sets a new punishment standard for Australians who abuse children overseas.

Moyle – aka “Waka”, the pedophile whose child abuse images and videos helped start the dark web – was eligible for release in 2024, but now cannot apply for parole until February 2027 at the earliest.

Geoffrey William Moyle, aka the sex terrorist known as “Waka”.

Moyle, 49, of Westbourne Park, was known online as “Waka” and praised, by perverts, as the man who “wrote the Bible on child abuse”.

He was among the first pedophiles to post his crimes – committed against child sex slaves overseas – online for others to view.

After a 20-year international manhunt, Moyle was finally apprehended by SA’s elite Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team in 2019.

Although the District Court jailed him for nearly a decade, it backdated his sentence – leaving Moyle eligible for parole in 2024.

Prosecutors dubbed that penalty “inadequate” and filed an appeal, saying Moyle’s crimes made him “a sex terrorist”.

IN DEPTH: The incredible inside story of how police brought down ‘Waka’

Detectives from SA’s Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team matched Moyle to “Waka” through personal items and photos. Picture: AFP

In a unanimous decision on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal granted the prosecution’s challenge.

Chief Justice Chris Kourakis, and Justices David Lovell and Sam Doyle, said Moyle should be resentenced.

They ordered he serve 12 years’ jail, with a seven-year non-parole period, for the Commonwealth offences.

They further ordered that sentence commence after Moyle’s nine-month term for SA crimes – a period that was backdated to his arrest in 2019.

The Court of Appeal agreed that Moyle’s original sentence was not long enough.

In its judgment, the court said there was “a great disparity” in Moyle’s sentencing, rendering his original term “manifestly inadequate” and in need of “correction”.

The court said it would have imposed a 16-year term if not for Moyle’s guilty pleas.

“(The original sentence) fails to recognise the harm caused to the many victims of Moyle’s persistent offending,” the court said.

“(Its) manifest inadequacy is indicative of an error of principle in its failure to reflect the societal expectation that the enforcement of the statutory provisions would protect children in developing countries from the predatory conduct of visiting Australian residents.”