Former Qld banker Mark Thomas Pashley-Partridge sentenced for child abuse material
A former Brisbane banker who upskirted girls as young as six at Southbank and traded in “stomach-churning” child abuse material has been sentenced. Warning: Graphic content
Police & Courts
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A former Queensland bank worker whose abhorrent fantasies involved baby rape and who traded in “stomach-churning” child abuse material that included upskirted girls at a popular Brisbane tourist destination has been jailed.
Mark Thomas Pashley-Partridge was raided by Australia Federal Police at his Salisbury home in September 2021 with officers seizing his laptop and phone.
Crown Prosecutor Sam Hill told Brisbane’s District Court on Thursday that Pashley-Partridge used social media apps to communicate with 22 other predators.
He expressed a preference for children aged nine to 12 but stated “as long as they’re young I’m happy”.
The 53-year-old possessed or controlled 927 child abuse material images and videos and transmitted material depicting children aged three to 12.
Pashley-Partridge also engaged in “fantasy narratives” with other predators in text where they would describe child sexual abuse.
A “particularly abhorrent” text exchange was with a purported mother who along with her husband said they were abusing their four-year-old and nine-month-old children.
“The graphic descriptions you gave of the physical activity you imagined with the baby are stomach turning,” Judge John Allen said.
The defendant groomed online three people he believed to be children under 16. In one case the person was actually an adult and the ages of the other two are unknown.
He also solicited child abuse material including from the purported mother of two daughters and, from another online predator, the abuse of his daughter. He also solicited images of two children who according to another user were purportedly being abused by their parents in Croatia which was being broadcast on Zoom. He did not receive these images.
Pashley-Partridge did however access videos involving the rape of five, six and 12 year old girls.
He also accessed upskirting photographs of girls aged six, 10 and 12 taken at Southbank as they climbed the Brisbane sign.
Pashley-Partridge pleaded guilty to 10 offences including using a carriage service to transmit, access, make available, possess or control and solicit child abuse material, using carriage service to transmit child pornography, using carriage service to cause child abuse material to be transmitted to self and three counts of using carriage service to groom a person under 16 years. The offending occurred for just over two years.
The court heard the offending had a devastating effect on Pashley-Partridge’s wife whose physical and mental health had deteriorated to the point she needed a carer which was the defendant.
His barrister Mark McCarthy asked this be taken into account during sentencing. Mr McCarthy drew a distinction between the child abuse material involving images and videos and that of the text based “fantasies”.
“On the one hand, talking about it -illegal and abhorrent- is still different to on the other hand actually doing it,” he said
Mr McCarthy also said his client’s solicitation of child abuse material did not amount to an intention that such abuse would actually occur
The court heard Pashley-Partridge had been an academic high achiever and worked in the financial services industry until his arrest.
Judge Allen said “real children suffer terribly” to provide the images and videos possessed and transmitted by Pashley-Partridge.
“You could have been under no illusion that real children have not suffered terribly to source the video and other image material which you dealt and possessed,” he said.
“Written child abuse material is also not a victimless or harmless offending.”
The court heard eight people Pashley-Partridge communicated with online said they were currently sexually abusing children or had the ability to do so or were talking with others who were sexually abusing children.
“Your communications expressed encouragement for that further abuse by soliciting images of future abuse. It carried with it the risk that your conduct will in fact encourage future abuse.”
Pashley-Partridge was sentenced to four years jail with a non parole eligibility period of one year and four months.
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