Arundel father caught with thousands of child porn images dodges jail-time

An Arundel father who walked from court after being caught with thousands of child pornography images has offered an incredible excuse.

AN ARUNDEL father who walked from court after being caught with thousands of child pornography images said he “considered them as art”.

Vaughan Desmond Stewart, 51, downloaded 11,432 images and nine videos through file sharing torrents between May 23 and August 12 last year.

The exploitation material focused on the genitalia of young girls aged between eight and 16.

Defence barrister Angus Edwards told Southport District Court yesterday his client became “desensitised to pornography” and progressed into illegal material due to depression.

Mr Edwards said Stewart had been diagnosed with HIV after a brief sexual encounter with a backpacker.

The images focused on young girls aged between eight and 16.

Stewart pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography material and accessing material using a carriage service, the internet.

Crown prosecutor Cameron Wilkins said said police officers uncovered the material when they raided Stewart’s home and seized a computer tower in August last year.

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Mr Wilkins said most of the material was rated Category 1 - the lowest end of the scale - but he described it as “still incredibly serious”.

“These are not victimless crimes,” he said.

“The children abused in the images and movies are the victims.”

Stewart had “made admissions to police there were images of female children aged between eight and 16 years on his computer and he told police he considered them as art”, Mr Wilkins told the court.

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But 41 images were rated in the more serious Category 2.

Mr Edwards said Stewart was “exposed to emotional abuse as a child” and also experienced the sudden disappearance of a family member.

Stewart is himself a father.

Mr Edwards said Stewart became depressed and turned to alcohol after the encounter with the backpacker in 2017.

Mr Edwards said Stewart had been seeing a psychologist since August last year.

Stewart’s wife and his boss provided character references, among others.

Judge Ian Dearden said Stewart was caught with a “substantial number of images” but he was “quietly confident the risks of reoffending are sufficiently able to be managed”.

Stewart was sentenced to 15 months jail and released immediately on a two year good behaviour bond. Another 12 month jail term was wholly suspended.

Stewart was also placed on probation for two years.