Bevan Coker says drugs drove him to accessing, transmitting ‘disgusting’ child abuse images

A man says he will never go near drugs again, after addiction drove him into a “perverted world” where he accessed and transmitted sick child abuse material.

An Illawarra man has told a court he was “selfishly messed up on ice” when he accessed and transmitted “disgusting” child abuse images online, saying he cannot fathom the crimes he committed.

Bevan Coker, 51, told the NSW District Court he “wasn’t in his right mind” when looking at, and sending, the sick material online, saying years of drug addiction and undiagnosed depression had played a major role in his offending.

“I was on ice, which then puts you in some perverted fantasy world, an evil fantasy world,” he said.

“I was a slave to that hideous drug for a few years.”

Bevan Coker leaves Wollongong Local Court following his arrest in October 2020. Picture: Madeline Crittenden

Coker was arrested by the Australian Federal Police at his home last October, after a tip off from the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children that he had used a Google account to access the material.

The AFP identified Coker using social media applications Facebook, Telegram, Wickr and WhatsApp to send and receive videos and images of children being sexually abused.

Investigators searched his Windang home and seized two mobile phones for further digital forensic analysis.

In court on Wednesday, it was revealed the images and videos, while low in volume, were “highly disturbing”, showing children from newborn ages to 10 years old being sexually abused, some while blindfolded and tied up.

Earlier this year he pleaded guilty to four charges, including use carriage service to access child abuse material, two counts of use carriage service transmit/publish/promote child abuse and posses or control child abuse material-use carriage service, and faced the NSW District Court in Wollongong before Judge Andrew Haesler for sentencing on Wednesday.

In giving evidence, Coker said he never had a sexual attraction to children before he started using ice, and that it only occurred while he was high.

“It purely was the drug,” he said.

Coker was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in October 2020. Picture: AFP Media

“It’s disgusting and I’m so sorry … you’re on this drug and you think ‘it’s not me, it’s someone else’, you had this justification that it’s okay and it’s not, it wasn’t OK.

“I’m sick to the pit of my stomach and I’m disgusted in myself, to think I was complicit in that horrible crime, I can’t get my head around it, and I’m so sorry for that.”

Coker told the court that since his arrest he hadn’t touched the drug and was working with a psychologist to address his substance abuse issues and depression.

“I know in my heart I will never go back to that drug,” he said.

“In some ways I’m glad I was caught, I’ve been able to turn my life around. I’m not that person.”

Judge Haesler said he found Coker’s evidence to be “genuine” and acknowledged the 51-year-old had “demonstrated real insight” into his offending.

While Judge Haesler agreed with Coker that it was “unlikely” he would engage in the same crimes again, he said a clear message needed to be sent to the community that the “despicable mistreatment of children” would not be tolerated.

“These were real children in deprived circumstances … and (Coker’s actions) perpetuated crimes against children.”

“While he has resolved to never go back, what he did cannot be escaped.”

Judge Haesler said while Coker had made strong steps toward rehabilitation he had to be “adequately punished”, and sentenced him to two years and three months jail, allowing his release from jail after nine months on a recognisance release order.