Doctor Billy Li Yu suspended for eight years after being found with hundreds of child exploitation images and videos

A tribunal has delivered a scathing judgment against an Adelaide doctor who used the dark web to watch “hours and hours” of child exploitation material.

A doctor who used the dark web to download hundreds of child exploitation material images and videos over a period of more than five years has been disqualified from practising medicine for eight years.

Dr Billy Li Yu, 35, was given a nine month suspended prison sentence in March 29, 2017 in the Adelaide Magistrates Court for possessing child exploitation material.

But in a decision published online the South Australian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal held his offending lasted longer than five years and was more serious than the courts realised.

The tribunal held Yu had stored some videos of child exploitation on his computer for as long as five years and eight months and had been watching “hours and hours” of filmed abuse.

Yu blamed the offending on “stress”, “boredom” and “sleep deprivation”, but the tribunal rejected that explanation.

Rather, the tribunal found Yu had been “dogged, determined and deliberate” in his ongoing access of the child abuse imagery and videos.

Yu was caught with 481 images of child exploitation material and 60 videos.

The majority of the images and videos were at the lower end of a spectrum of seriousness used by police, but some showed the abuse of children under the age of 12.

The evidence before the tribunal showed Yu had been accessing child exploitation material for at least a decade and had been downloading and collecting it for more than five years.

Yu downloaded a specific internet browser that allowed him to access child exploitation material on the dark web.

The tribunal rejected Yu’s claims there was an “innocent” explanation for images and videos being on his computer.

“By continuing to offer other ‘innocent’ explanations we find that Yu continues to downplay and minimise his conduct and fails to frankly accept the extent of his criminal and unprofessional behaviour,” the tribunal concluded.

The tribunal was scathing of Yu’s failure to seek counselling in the five years since his offending came to light.

Yu told the tribunal during a hearing he was willing to undergo therapy but the panel held the offer was “disingenuous and … an attempt to avoid a severe disciplinary sanction”.

The tribunal held Yu had failed to understand the impact of child exploitation material on the young children abused in the process of its creation.

“We did not believe Yu’s hollow expressions of remorse, or that he has an understanding about the impact of his behaviour on children,” it concluded.

Yu was reprimanded and struck off the health practitioner’s register.

His lawyer argued Yu should receive a merciful disqualification period of around four years.

However, the tribunal said the aggravating features including the length of time Yu had been accessing the material led it to impose a penalty of eight years.

Yu will be eligible to reapply for registration as a doctor in March 2029.

Originally published as Doctor Billy Li Yu suspended for eight years after being found with hundreds of child exploitation images and videos