Suspended paramedic’s depraved journal of child sexual assault stories

Suspended paramedic Mark Shane Roche has been jailed after pleading guilty to making child exploitation material, including sickening and depraved stories about an infant rape contest.

Paramedic Mark Shane Roche pleaded guilty to making child exploitation material. Picture: Patrick Woods.

A Queensland Ambulance officer who wrote sickening and depraved stories about an infant rape contest, accessed a heinous child abuse video and created child exploitation material on Snapchat via an age altering app has been jailed.

Suspended paramedic Mark Shane Roche, 53, on Thursday pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to access child abuse material, using a carriage service to access child pornography material and two counts of making child exploitation material.

Brisbane’s District Court heard Roche, who had no prior criminal history, accessed 12 images involving pre-pubescent female children ranging in ages from four to six years of age.

There was also a video depicting the rape of a female child, the court heard.

Roche created child exploitation material by depicting himself masturbating to child abuse material.

Paramedic Mark Shane Roche. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Commonwealth prosecutor Daniel Trigger said a number of videos were also located on Snapchat where Roche was engaging in sexual activity with an adult female but had applied an age regression filter to make her look like a child in pigtails.

This offending occurred between 2019 and 2022.

While on bail for these offences police searched his home and located a journal depicting “highly explicit stories” about the rape and sexual assault of young children which amounted to child exploitation material.

The court heard he was motivated to write the stories out of “sexual frustration” because he wasn’t “coping without his pictures.”

“Particularly disturbing in my submission,” Mr Trigger, assisted by prosecutor India Paul, said.

The court heard Roche began the “journalling” at the suggestion of a psychologist treating him for severe childhood trauma.

The accounts were meant to be dreams reflecting childhood memories of the trauma and while there were some reflections of that the material highlighted by the Crown “were largely for his own sexual gratification”.

Roche was suspended from his job of 18 years with the Queensland Ambulance Service when first arrested in December 2022 and would not be returning, the court heard.

“The community rightly expect that when they call for the assistance of the Queensland Ambulance Service, particularly for their children in their most vulnerable position, they expect that those persons can be trusted absolutely,” Mr Trigger said.

“The defendant has breached that trust.”

Barrister Sarah Cartledge, instructed by Brendan Beavon principal of Beavon Lawyers, said the psychologist requesting her client to write down material gave context to the offending.

“I am not making the submission that the psychologist told him to write and it was okay to write the level of material that was ultimately found,” she said.

Ms Cartledge said Roche had a complex trauma history and had undergone 54 sessions with a psychologist to treat it.

She said exceptional circumstances existed that warranted her client not being made to serve actual jail time.

These included that Roche only accessed relatively few images and his making of child exploitation material did involve the actual use of a child.

Judge Suzanne Sheridan agreed it was a “complex case” and Roche’s letter to the court and his timely plea was evidence of his remorse.

She found the treatment by his psychologist did not target his underlying sexual interest in children.

“The highly depraved and disturbing (diary) entries which I accept were initiated at the suggestion of a treating psychologist also appear to contain an element of being written for your own sexual gratification,” Judge Sheridan said.

“While that issue is not addressed, there must remain a risk of reoffending.”

Roche was sentenced to 2.5 years jail to be suspended after four months.

On release he must enter a $500 2.5 year good behaviour bond and complete two years of probation.