Perth man found with child abuse material, snuff images, sentenced to prison

An Australian man has been caught with images depicting more than 18,000 child abuse victims.

A Perth man will spend at least seven years in prison after police found his massive stash of child abuse material.

The 41-year-old from Perth’s southeast had more than 71,000 child abuse images and videos, depicting 18,648 victims.

After pleading guilty to eight charges, he was sentenced to 11 years and nine months’ prison in court last week, with a non-parole period of seven years.

“Accessing and downloading this material props up this vile industry and normalises a crime that leaves victims and their families with lifelong trauma,” AFP Detective Superintendent Peter Chwal said.

The Perth man has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison. Picture: Australian Federal Police

“Our goal is to protect children, wherever they live, and we will never stop hunting down offenders to bring them before the courts.

“This result is testament to the resolve of our investigators, who spend painstaking hours reviewing grotesque material to identify and prosecute offenders.”

Police were led to the 41-year-old through another downloader of the content in NSW.

Police raided the Perth man’s home in the suburb of Gosnells in March 2024. He was using 11 chat groups and had saved 71,486 files of child abuse material.

More than 18,000 child victims were identified. Police found six images of young females who were dead or being tortured.

Working with global law enforcement agencies, the AFP said 510 of these victims had been identified and rescued.

The Gosnells man pleaded guilty to five charges of possessing child abuse material, two counts of accessing the material, and a charge of using a carriage service for child abuse material three or more times.

He was sentenced in the District Court of Western Australia on Thursday.

Members of the public can report suspected child abuse to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.