Man ‘drinking to excess’ prior to downloading child exploit files
A man caught with thousands of child exploitation images was downing a cask of red wine “every 1-2 days” prior to his arrest, a court was told.
Police & Courts
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A man caught with thousands of child exploitation images was downing a cask of red wine “every 1-2 days” prior to his arrest, a court was told.
Damien Kane Mollenhagen was told his actions were not victimless crimes by Judge Jennifer Rosengren, as the children depicted in the files had all been subject to sexual abuse and psychological damage.
The 35-year-old Redland Bay man pleaded guilty at Brisbane District Court to one count of possessing child exploitation material and one count of using a carriage service to access child exploitation material.
The court was told Mollenhagen downloaded a file containing 722 images of two girls, aged between eight and ten-years-old, posing in sexualised positions in September 2018.
He was found in possession of 21,500 images and videos when police searched his property.
More than 10,000 files showed boys and girls in sexualised poses and engaging in sexual activities.
These files were mainly concentrated on girls between the ages of 8-12, but Judge Rosengren said the remaining images were “not illegal in their own right”.
Defence lawyer Chris Minnery said Mollenhagen was had difficulty with alcohol at the time of offending and was often drinking to excess.
“He was at about a cask of red wine every 1-2 days,” Mr Minnery said.
“After his arrest, he realised the stupidity of what he’d done and … ceased alcohol immediately.”
Mr Minnery said his client now only drank a six-pack of beer every fortnight and had developed insight into his offending.
Judge Rosengren told Mollenhagen the offending was “serious” as it encouraged the exploitation of “young, vulnerable children”.
She imposed an 18-month jail term, suspended after four months.
For 24-hour sexual violence support call the national hotline 1800RESPECT on 1800 737.