Sicko gaming nerd Troy ‘Batman’ Hyman busted with 30,000 child porn videos and images
A loner Lalor nerd was known as ‘Batman’ in his “virtual world of gaming”. But when specialist police raided the house he shared with his mother they found almost 30,000 vile child pornography pictures and videos. Here’s how he landed on their radar.
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A Lalor gaming nerd who lived with his mother was busted with almost 30,000 vile child porn files.
Troy Hyman, 37, pleaded guilty in the County Court on Wednesday to accessing and possessing child abuse material.
Hyman landed on the radar after a specialist child abuse unit launched an operation targeting social media and online peer-to-peer child porn rings in 2017.
Investigators linked Hyman’s IP address to a peer-to-peer network which had shared child pornography.
Police banged down Hyman’s door on March 16 2018 and seized several devices including a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge with a Batman cover, more phones, a laptop, a notebook, a tablet and two computer towers.
The devices contained a combined 29,746 child pornography images and videos including vile material which depicted “penetrative sexual activity”.
Hyman told police he searched terms such as “jail bait” and “pre-teen” when hunting for the vile material.
Hyman also admitted viewing child pornography daily for six years prior to his arrest.
He told police the victims depicted in the videos were “probably aged 8-10” but most of the children were “smiling”.
Hyman said he knew child pornography was wrong but it made him “feel good”.
The defence submitted Hyman was an “introverted person” who lived in the “virtual world of gaming”.
Hyman’s barrister said her client “enters into this virtual road” before a “slippery slope” into child pornography.
“(He) goes from adult pornography to more risqué pornography to utterly illegal pornography,” she said.
“He’s actually really shy … he’s not equipped to deal with … real women.”
The barrister said Hyman had become “desensitized” but did not selectively choose his material.
‘(It’s) just a simple blatant downloading and hoarding of them,” she said.
The court heard Hyman had a “perfectly normal upbringing in the northern suburbs”.
He worked as a security guard just prior to being charged but was now unemployed.
Hyman, a Reservoir District College graduate, has completed various studies including a cabinet making apprenticeship and an RMIT health course.
Hyman, who has no priors, is a fan of nerd culture and he and friends refer to him on social media as “Batman”.
He was also nabbed with two large swords.
Judge Sarah Dawes extended Hyman’s bail for sentencing at a later date.
He will be made a registered sex offender for 15 years.
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