Mark Aaron Phelan, 37, sentenced for possession, distribution of child abuse material

A man being sentenced for accessing, possessing and distributing child abuse material engaged in “depraved” incestual role play on chat services with other creeps and possibly a number of children, a court has heard.

Generic thumbnail for child abuse sentence proceedings created by Eliza Barr

A man being sentenced for accessing, possessing and distributing child abuse material engaged in “depraved” incestual role play on chat services with other creeps and possibly a number of children, a court has heard.

Cairns man, Mark Aaron Phelan, 37, pleaded guilty to four counts regarding the access, transmission and possession of child abuse material.

Commonwealth prosecutor Trent Denman told the court Phelan accessed the material across 2020 to 2022 and would engage in “depraved” role play in chat groups on the messaging apps Blue kik, a modified version of the Kik app, and Telegram.

The court heard a search of Phelan’s devices uncovered 114 child abuse material files.

“That material was depraved, it involved both young males and females, children engaged in abhorrent sexual abuse with adult males and females,” Mr Denman said.

Phelan would use the messaging apps to share images and videos.

The prosecution submitted that on at least three occasions these files were shared to “apparent children”.

Phelan was also charged on the basis of transmitting text based child abuse material through his graphic and explicit exchanges with other users.

“This was further aggravated by images of real children which were used as reference material,” Mr Denman said.

sad scared girl child abuse generic

“There is real criminality in how the defendant has turned his mind to developing the story of sexual abuse against children.”

Defence counsel Rachelle Logan told the court Phelan had developed insight into his offending in custody and revealed he had been assaulted in prison during his one year and 16 days already spent in custody.

She told the court he had not been able to access any sexual offender programs while in custody as none were available in Lotus Glen for men on remand.

“Only three programs in total are available in Lotus Glen,” Ms Logan said.

She said there would be greater rehabilitation scaffolding available in the community.

Ms Logan told the court Phelan had a disadvantaged childhood and a history of PTSD.

She said that while the prosecution submitted he had been chatting with “apparent children” Phelan believed he was talking to other adults like him as he would often take on the role of a five-year-old child.

Chief Judge Brian Devereaux said on one occasion Phelan asked another user “do you want me to groom you or to be already groomed?” and said there was a danger that he was dealing with children as he received messages from users advising they were aged under 16.

Judge Devereaux said “just one line is enough to give some impression” of the depravity.

“Playing an adult male who has fathered a child with his sister, he describes the sexual abuse of the daughter on her 13th birthday,” he said.

Judge Devereaux said the community utterly condemned this behaviour but said that Phelan’s “risk factors could be managed outside prison”.

He sentenced the man to two years imprisonment with immediate release on a two year probation having served 381 days in custody.

Originally published as Mark Aaron Phelan, 37, sentenced for possession, distribution of child abuse material