ACT Court of Appeal reduces pedophile coach Stephen Porter’s sentence
A former junior Aussie rules coach was jailed for 20 years for child sex crimes. Find out why he won an appeal.
Canberra Star
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A pedophile football coach may walk free from prison earlier than expected after the ACT’s top court cut three years off his sentence.
Stephen James Porter, 53, has been serving a 20-year jail term at Canberra’s prison, the Alexander Maconochie Centre, after pleading guilty to four child sex charges that related to crimes he committed between 2009 and 2020.
Porter volunteered during that time as a junior Australian rules football coach at two Canberra clubs, starting at the Magpies in Belconnen before moving to the Ainslie Football Club.
He oversaw several junior teams, in various age groups, and also offered private coaching sessions to select players.
Porter abused his positions to offend sexually against three boys, covertly filming the first of them in order to produce child exploitation material.
He physically abused the second boy for three years, and was in the process of grooming the third when he was arrested.
A subsequent police examination of his electronic devices uncovered more than 1500 files of child exploitation material.
Among them was a hidden camera video of a boy, who lived in a home where Porter had stayed as a guest.
When Porter was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court in 2022, Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson described the case as “a human tragedy”.
Justice Loukas-Karlsson ordered Porter, who lived in the Canberra suburb of Macgregor before his incarceration, to serve a non-parole period of 12-and-a-half years.
Porter subsequently appealed against the length of his sentence on three grounds.
He argued, among other things, that Justice Loukas-Karlsson had been wrong to find he had sexually abused the second victim on at least 35 occasions.
Porter had contended that there were only 14 or 15 occasions.
In a unanimous decision on Friday, three ACT Court of Appeal judges upheld this ground of appeal.
Justice David Mossop, Justice Belinda Baker and Justice Robert Bromwich said while it was “probable and even quite likely” that there had been at least 35 instances of sexual abuse, it was not possible to make this finding beyond reasonable doubt.
They also agreed with Porter’s complaint that the indicative sentence for the grooming offence had been manifestly excessive.
The judges accordingly re-sentenced Porter, imposing a new total jail term of 17 years.
They also reduced his non-parole period by 18 months, meaning Porter must serve a minimum of 11 years behind bars.
With time already served, Porter will become eligible for parole in November 2032.
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