Bhuwani Prasad Khadka sentenced in SA court for running social media network for exchange of child exploitation material
His arrest made legal history - so why will this vile, first-of-his-kind pedophile serve only the minimum prison time allowed under law?
SA News
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The first SA pedophile ever caught running a social media network for “the very worst and most depraved” child abuse is “less morally culpable” for his crimes due to his “impoverished” refugee background, a judge says.
On Tuesday, the District Court said Bhuwani Prasad Khadka had exchanged files depicting children under five, and even infants, with like-minded pedophiles online.
Though he faced a maximum 20-year sentence, Judge Carmen Matteo jailed him for just two months longer than the minimum term required by law.
“You have something of a lessened degree of moral culpability on account of the link between your offending and your impoverished and disadvantaged upbringing,” she said.
“You were born in a refugee camp in Nepal (where) you were exposed to this type of material from a young age (that) whilst still illegal was not viewed with the level of abhorrence it is in this country.
“Not having been protected from, but having been exposed to, the material inured you to an inappropriate response to such extreme and abhorrent material.
“You told (a psychologist) you had not appreciated the extent of the material’s illegality under Australian law... you told him it was ‘wrong, a little bit’.”
Khadka, 28, of Burton, pleaded guilty to possessing and transmitting child abuse material.
He also made SA legal history as the first person to be charged with, and plead guilty to, creating and controlling an electronic service for the purpose of doing so.
That offence carries a maximum penalty of 20 years, and Federal legislation mandates a minimum five-year term.
Khadka was arrested in February 2023 by the elite Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team following a tip-off from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the US.
JACET found Khadka was a prolific member of existing exploitation groups on WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook Messenger.
They also found he had started and ran his own, sharing more than a dozen videos with five other people.
In sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Matteo said Khadka had initially tried to downplay both his offending and his attraction to children, but met the diagnostic criteria for paedophilia.
She said he had subsequently shown “modest” insight and contrition, and that his offending was “at the lower end of the scale of seriousness” given the number of files and participants in his network.
Judge Matteo jailed Khadka for five years and two months, with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.
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Originally published as Bhuwani Prasad Khadka sentenced in SA court for running social media network for exchange of child exploitation material
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