Kingswood man Rafael Giovanni Trunzo pleads guilty to possessing child abuse material
A western Sydney man busted with more than 900 child abuse videos sought out the vile material because of “boredom” during Covid lockdowns, a court has heard.
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A western Sydney man busted with more than 900 child abuse videos sought out the vile material because of “boredom” during Covid lockdowns, a court has learned.
Rafael Giovanni Trunzo, 20, of Kingswood, pleaded guilty at Penrith Local Court on Friday to possessing child abuse material after police found a cache of material stored in an encrypted folder in August 2022.
Trunzo, who lives with autism, was initially distraught after searching for child abuse material online in 2020, a court heard. Trunzo cried after seeing the material, and considered reporting it to police.
Agreed facts reveal Trunzo instead continued seeking out child abuse material which he would save onto his Samsung smartphone, including in an encrypted folder titled “CP”, or child pornography.
Trunzo told police he would search for child abuse material-specific hashtags on Twitter and messaging app Kik, which would lead to conversations with users who would provide links to cloud storage app “Mega”.
At the time of the police raid, Trunzo had retained 558 images and 976 videos.
Of the large cache of videos, more than half included children engaged in sexual acts, agreed facts state.
Trunzo’s lawyer said he did not derive sexual gratification from the images and videos.
Instead, he claimed Trunzo had become “fixated” on the material as a result of his illness.
Magistrate George Breton hit back at that claim, citing Trunzo’s methods of gaining more material and that the material was purposefully hidden in a “calculator” folder on his smartphone.
“While I appreciate the reason Trunzo first looked up the images, he had to go through quite a detailed process of engaging with others to access more material,” Mr Breton said.
“The reality is he continued these actions over a period of time to garner more material.”
Mr Breton dismissed attempts by Trunzo’s lawyer to have him dealt with under the mental health act. The provision would have seen him escape sentencing because of his illness.
Trunzo was instead sentenced to a two-year community corrections order.
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