Daniel Moore pleads guilty to possessing child abuse material

A Sebastopol man took naked photos of his close friend’s toddler while the girl watched TV, and her unsuspecting father entertained guests at his home.

Daniel Moore has pleaded guilty to possessing child abuse material.

A petrol station attendant took naked photos of his close friend’s toddler as she watched television while her unsuspecting father entertained guests at his home.

Daniel Moore, 35, pleaded guilty to four charges including one count of intentionally produce child abuse material in the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court.

The court heard in the days leading up to Christmas 2019, Moore was a regular at his friend’s house to help out with presents and cleaning.

On Christmas Eve, Moore and a group of mates were at his three-year-old victim’s house together, when he abused his position of trust.

Moore left the friends in the garage to go inside and help settle down the kids, on his way back out he noticed the toddler sitting alone and watching TV.

He took intimate photos of her and went back outside to the group which included her father.

Later that night he viewed them in bed, but sent them to himself in an email before deleting them off his phone.

The next day, his former partner came to pick up her belongings from his Sebastopol home when she turned on his computer, opened his Gmail account and saw the pictures he had taken.

She then showed the images to the child’s father who confirmed it was his daughter.

Moore in response said he knew he had “f***** up”.

“I don’t know why and I can’t explain it, I have broken our friendship and lost our trust,” he said.

“I am very sorry, mentally I am not in a good place.”

His former partner went back to the house the day after and found a USB containing child abuse material.

She, along with the toddler’s mother, handed the USB over to the Ballarat Sexual Offences Unit.

When police raided Moore’s home they found close to 700 files of child abuse material on several hard drives.

His defence lawyer told the court through her, Moore expressed his apologies to his victim and her family, as well as to his parents who have suffered because of his actions.

“He appreciates the seriousness of this offending,” she said.

She said her client had an intellectual disability and was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and autism spectrum disorder.

Moore, now living in Wangaratta, was supported in court by his parents.

Moore who is on bail will be assessed for a community corrections order before returning to court in March for sentencing.