Denham Varas-Curl aka Thamazi sentenced for child abuse material offences

An aspiring muso from Melbourne’s east has learnt his fate in court after being caught with child abuse material featuring girls as young as five.

Denham Varas-Curl, also known as music producer Tamazhi, has been sentenced after being charged over child abuse material offences. Picture: Instagram.

A music student from Melbourne’s east busted with a collection of child abuse material featuring girls as young as five has been made a registered sex offender for 15 years, despite escaping conviction.

Denham Varas-Curl, 22, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on March 17 after a police raid uncovered the material at his family’s Upper Ferntree Gully home on July 28, 2021.

Varas-Curl, who has music on Triple J unearthed as artist Thamazi and is completing a songwriting course at the JMC Academy, was found to have 61 child abuse images and videos on a laptop and harddrive.

Denham Varas-Curl leaves Ringwood Magistrates Court after being sentenced on March 17, 2023. Picture: Kiel Egging.

During a hearing on March 8, the court heard Varas-Curl obtained the material by seeking links off filesharing site mega.nz in 2019 and transferring them to his Dropbox account.

Nineteen videos and one image featuring girls aged 12 and under were assessed following the raid, including a video featuring a naked girl aged five to six years being penetrated by a man and later performing oral sex.

Others featured minors exposing genitalia, masturbating and using sex toys or having them used on them.

Ferntree Gully's Denham Varas-Curl, 22, faced Ringwood Magistrates Court on March 8 after being charged for child pornography offences. Picture: Facebook.

Varas-Curl accessed the content for a month following a relationship break-up, and told police in an interview after his arrest he did not “enjoy or get anything from watching” the material.

Through his defence lawyer George Balot, Varas-Carl expressed he had “genuine remorse” for his actions prior to sentencing.

He was supported in court by his mother and uncle, and Mr Balot said the family had sought out psychological help for his client to help him address his issues.

Magistrate Anthony Parsons told Varus-Curl, who now lives in Box Hill North, that his offending was “serious” but accepted he was remorseful and “committed to make sure it won’t occur again”.

He spared Varus-Curl a conviction and sentenced him to an 18-month community corrections order, which he said was to “make sure you deal with a number of issues in your life that may have contributed to this offending.”

Varus-Curl was also made a registered sex offender for a mandatory period of 15 years, and ordered to undertake any recommended alcohol or mental health treatment.

Prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Nick Papadopoulos also ordered Varas-Curl’s hard drive and laptop be forfeited.