Australian Federal Police seize Christopher Davidson’s Top End home after vile collection discovered

Australian Federal Police have seized a sexual offender’s home, claiming having a roof over his head allowed the Top End man to download a vile hoard of child abuse material.

Australian Federal Police Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce detective superintendent Amelia McDonald said the seizure of a $370,000 Top End home was a first-of-its kind case in the prosecution of child abuse offenders in the Territory

The Australian Federal Police have seized a Top End man’s home after his vile hoard of child abuse material was discovered alongside a guide on how to “groom” and “hunt” children.

Top End resident Christopher Davidson, 34, was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by a good behaviour bond in December after a federal police sting uncovered more than 6000 sickening images and videos of children being abused and raped.

Even Justice Sonia Brownhill — who has worked in the law for almost three decades — was struck by the “relative perversion and debauchery of the material”, saying some of the videos were of the “most abhorrent and depraved kind”.

Despite Justice Brownhill finding “no evidence of any financial or other benefit” or that the 34-year-old paid any money for his vile collection, the Commonwealth has stepped in to seize his home under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Last week the Australian Federal Police officially seized ownership of Davidson’s $370,000 home, in a first-of-its kind case in the prosecution of child abuse material offenders in the Territory.

Police and court documents obtained by the NT News have revealed how the net closed in on the Brisbane-born fly-in-fly-out worker.

Three months after investigators uncovered an account “HonryPedo” on a darknet site account, police raided Davidson’s home.

The 34-year-old pantsless man told federal officers at his door: “Well, it was only a matter of time before you blokes rocked up”.

A police transcript showed the 34-year-old immediately admitted to having “sh*tloads” of child abuse material on his laptop — with a total of 6079 files spread over his laptop and three USBs.

The youngest victim was just a month old, while more than three-quarters of the illicit images showed the abuse of children under the age of 13.

Police also uncovered an e-book called the “The Paedophiles’ Handbook”, which court documents said was a guide to “groom” and “hunt for children”.

Davidson told police he first encountered the sick material by chance during Covid while “bored out of my mind”.

The 34-year-old, who pleaded guilty and was convicted for using a carriage service to access and possession of child abuse material, has lost his home in a precedence setting move by the Commonwealth.

During his Supreme Court hearing prosecutors applied for the forfeiture of his computer and USBs — but six months later the federal agency came back for his Top End home.

Australian Federal Police documents recommended the Commonwealth “take custody and control” of the convicted sexual offender’s currently-vacant property, which is opposite a primary school and child care centre.

According to the police transcript when asked if Davidson only accessed the illegal material outside of “the security of your home”, the 34-year-old replied: “yeah, I don’t do it f**king at the pub or nothin”.

Due to this, police are treating this matter under the proceeds of crime act.

AFP Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce detective superintendent Amelia McDonald said because Davidson owned and was the sole-occupant of his own home, the Commonwealth was treating it as “an instrument in the offending”.

Australian Federal Police Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce detective superintendent Amelia McDonald.

“If I could liken it to a drug case, if there was a link to a vehicle being used to transport narcotics … we could use that as an instrument of crime,” Ms McDonald said.

Ms McDonald rejected that seizure of his Top End property was an extra-curial punishment, going beyond the penalty allocated within the justice system.

“No, the way that criminal assets confiscation and the proceeds of crime legislation has been established is to ensure that there is no reinvestment of any funds, or that these individuals cannot have any benefit from their offending,” Ms McDonald said.

“When you involve your assets in offending against children, you very much risk losing your home under the proceeds of crime law.”

Davidson did not challenge the Commonwealth application to seize his property.

Ms McDonald said this was part of a new focus on civil litigation methods against Northern Territory and South Australian offenders, following the establishment of the central division assets confiscation team in Adelaide 18 months ago.

She said the Commonwealth had multiple mechanisms to take a “targeted and aggressive” against “these heinous individuals”.

“For us it was very much the confronting nature of the offending, in terms of what this individual was accessing which was absolutely abhorrent,” Ms McDonald said.

She said the Top End property would be sold, with an estimated $375,000 reinvested into crime prevention, law enforcement and community-related initiatives.

“(It’s) giving back to the community, from these people who have taken from our community”.