Christopher Eakin jailed over sick emails requesting child abuse images
A man will spend time in jail after he was found with more than 300 child abuse images on his phone and using email - including the address ‘proudchildmolester’ - to try and trade images on Twitter.
Illawarra Star
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A Wollongong man who used several email usernames, including ‘proudchildmolester’, to solicit child abuse material online could be released from jail as early as November.
Christopher Eakin, 36, was sentenced to three years jail with a non-parole period of 20 months by Judge Christopher O’Brien at Wollongong District Court on Friday, after he sent 16 different emails requesting child abuse material to other people online over a five-month period.
The Cliff Rd resident was charged with three counts of soliciting child abuse material on Australia Day last year, after police received information that explicit images of children had been uploaded to a Twitter account.
An investigation started and on January 25 2019, police raided Eakin’s apartment.
During the search police found a mobile phone stuffed down Eakin’s pants, who initially denied he used the phone, saying it was his partner’s.
He later admitted they used a joint email account on the phone but denied he used it to look up child abuse material.
After seizing the phone, police found more than 300 child abuse images on the phone and arrested him the following day.
Later investigations revealed Eakin had set up three different email accounts with usernames including ‘ilovetomolest3yolilgirls’ and ‘proudchildmolester’ which he used on 16 different occasions to request child abuse material from other people online.
In one of the emails, Eakin wrote “Here is little sample of the CP (child pornography/abuse materials) I have. Please send me what you have and I’ll send you more.”
The contents of the other emails is too graphic to be published.
On Friday, the court heard Eakin had been using ice at the time of his offending, however Judge O’Brien said this was no excuse for his crimes.
“This is not a victimless crime,” he said. “Every child depicted in that child abuse material is a victim of the crime … every time that material is viewed that child becomes a victim again.”
The court also heard the true number of children involved in the material was unknown, but that they were real children.
Judge O’Brien noted that email usernames used by Eakin were “concerning” and that while the offending was “unsophisticated” the number of emails sent indicated a “certain persistence”.
“There was also a material benefit to be obtained (by requesting the child abuse material), that being the nature of the exchange of the material,” he said.
While Eakin’s defence lawyer argued his client was at risk of becoming institutionalised due to prior stints in jail, Judge O’Brien disagreed.
In taking into account his guilty pleas, which Judge O’Brien said represented a degree of contrition and remorse, he imposed a sentence of three years jail with a non-parole period of 20 months.
With time already served, Eakin will be eligible for release to parole in November this year.