Satinder Gill: Carrum Downs mechanic guilty over child porn
A Carrum Downs dad is facing deportation after he used WhatsApp to send and receive vile child abuse images and videos.
South East
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A Carrum Downs father is facing deportation after he was found with disgusting child abuse videos and images on his phone and computer.
Satinder Gill, an Indian national, has been held in immigration detention since his crimes were exposed in July 2019.
The mechanic, who owned a Dandenong auto repair business, pleaded guilty in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on March 16 to several charges of possessing child abuse material.
The court heard Gill used messaging service WhatsApp to receive the heinous content, which included videos of children being sexually penetrated.
One disgusting video also showed children naked from the waist down, being hanged by their necks and beaten.
The court heard Gill had also sent a video of a young boy having sex with an adult female to another member of the WhatsApp group, along with a message saying “Indian kids are progressing so much now”.
Up to 100 vile images and videos were found on his iPhone and laptop, saved as “bacē” — the Punjabi word for “kids”.
Legal Aid defence lawyer Jarrod Van Arkadie told the court his client had “already been punished” for his abhorrent crimes.
“(Gill) has spent 600 days in immigration detention … and has been unable to see his 13-year-old son since this happened,” he said.
“He came to Australia on a visa that allowed him to train in the automotive industry, he became manager and eventually bought the business he was working at.
“All of that took about 10 years and in the space of about a week he lost everything — he lost the business, his liberty, his visa.”
Mr Van Arkadie said Gill’s time in detention had been “akin to imprisonment” and called for him to be given a community corrections order or fine.
“It’s immeasurable harm that has come about, he’s already had such punishment delivered to him before (he’s been sentenced),” he said.
But Magistrate Andrew Halse wasn’t impressed with Mr Van Arkadie’s argument.
“Isn’t looking at the immeasurable harm to your client overlooking the immeasurable harm to those children that are exploited and defiled in the way that they are?,” he said.
“It’s not punishment, it’s consequences of the offending with which he’s been charged.”
Mr Van Arkadie said it had been Gill’s father’s dream that his son set up a life in Australia but he was now “very likely to have to go back to India with his tail between his legs and explain to his family why it all fell to pieces”.
He said Gill was being taunted by other detainees due to the nature of his crimes and, despite being vegetarian, had not been provided with appropriate food options.
“These are issues which go to his human rights,” Mr Van Arkadie said.
Prosecution submitted that a term of imprisonment would be appropriate, with the content described by the informant as “some of the worst he’s seen” in 15 years investigating sexual offences and child abuse.
Mr Halse said it was a “disgraceful and exploitative” crime and he needed time to “give thorough consideration” to the matter before sentencing.
Gill will be sentenced later this month.
