Ex-TasTAFE tutor raided by federal police in massive child abuse material haul

A Huonville man was raided by federal police and found with millions of files, including a huge number of depraved and anime child abuse material files. Here’s what happened in court >>

Huonville man Christopher John Standen, 36. Picture: LinkedIn

DETAILS of a massive child abuse material haul have been revealed in court, with a former TasTAFE computing teacher busted after a years-long addiction.

Huonville man Christopher John Standen, 36, was raided by federal police in October 2019 and found in possession of more than two million files, which Commonwealth prosecutor Holly Baxter said would have taken 442 working days to classify.

She said the 2,210,812 files included non-illegal files, but also a mixture of all categories of child abuse material, including the most serious and depraved category five, and category six - covering animated, virtual and anime.

Ms Baxter told the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Thursday that Australian Federal Police executed the search warrant just days after receiving a notification from the USA.

Standen, who was at home with family members at the time, made a number of admissions to AFP officers, including that he was aware he had child abuse material, that “he was sexually attracted to children”, and had been downloading the material for a number of years.

Standen has since pleaded guilty to the Commonwealth offences of possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service and using a carriage service to access child abuse material.

He has also pleaded guilty to the Tasmanian offence of possessing child exploitation material.

Defence barrister Garth Stevens said Standen had struggled with anxiety growing up, and had become interested in anime and Japanese language.

He said the anime animation style was part of Standen’s “escapism” he developed as a young person.

Mr Stevens said Standen struggled mentally with shame due to his addiction to child abuse material, but initially believed that just “looking at the images wasn’t hurting anyone”.

He said he now realised viewing the material created a market for it, “and for that, he is genuinely remorseful”.

The lawyer also said the majority of the material was category 1 – the lowest level – and that Standen was now in a long-term, stable relationship with a Singaporean man who he planned to marry.

“He comes from an extremely supportive family,” Mr Stevens said.

He added Standen was suspended from his job at TasTAFE, which required a Working with Vulnerable People registration last December, and that he resigned last month.

“It’s been a slow torture, not knowing when the charges would come.”

Justice Gregory Geason ordered that a forensic mental health report be prepared.

He bailed Standen to return to court on April 17.

Follow @ambervwilson

Originally published as Ex-TasTAFE tutor raided by federal police in massive child abuse material haul