Macksville: Michael McFarlane, 58, pleads guilty to accessing child abuse material after police raided his home

A Coffs Coast man admitted to having a “problem” with child abuse material when he was found with horror files of victims as young as one-year-old. Warning: Graphic

Michael McFarlane faced a Coffs Harbour court after his home was raided.

A Macksville man has pleaded guilty to accessing child abuse material mostly including girls, including a one-year-old infant, being sexually abused by men.

Michael McFarlane pleaded guilty in Coffs Harbour Local Court to using a carriage service to access child abuse material on a home and a workshop computer at his residence.

The 58-year-old came to the attention of police in January 2023. His home was raided and two computers and a USB device were seized on April 27 last year.

Michael McFarlane, 58, pleaded guilty to accessing child abuse material.

Court documents reveal McFarlane told police during the raid he had been “looking at online material that he shouldn’t be looking at” – and was aware he had a “problem”.

During the police search, McFarlane admitted to running a peer-to-peer encrypted software program for anonymous web browsing and file sharing.

Officers determined child abuse imagery “predominantly depicted pre-pubescent female children engaged in penile-vaginal sexual intercourse with adult males”.

McFarlane is due to be sentenced in December. Picture: iStock

Files found on McFarlane’s devices were itemised and included detailed descriptions of the abuse contained within. They included descriptions of the rape of a one-year-old girl.

McFarlane accessed 61 cached files on a home computer, a workshop computer and the USB between April 4 and April 17 last year.

There were also 30 files that had been viewed or downloaded, but deleted.

McFarlane pleaded guilty Tuesday and remained on bail as he awaited sentencing.

He is due to face Coffs Harbour District Court on December 20.

Originally published as Macksville: Michael McFarlane, 58, pleads guilty to accessing child abuse material after police raided his home