‘Photography enthusiast’ busted with child porn in police raid

A young electrical engineer and self-described ‘photography enthusiast’ caught with thousands of vile child pornography files on his phone and laptop has pleaded guilty to five charges.

A YOUNG electrical engineer and self-described “photography enthusiast” caught with thousands of vile child pornography files on his phone and laptop has pleaded guilty to five counts of accessing or obtaining child abuse material.

Jackson Ranasinghe, 24, faced the Supreme Court in Darwin on Wednesday where Crown prosecutor, Brittany Stone, outlined the bust at his Tiwi home by the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team in July 2020.

Ms Stone said the officers seized a laptop and mobile phone found in Ranasinghe’s room during the raid.

“Police gained access to these devices and discovered that he ad accessed child pornography and child abuse material using a carriage service,” she said.

“The offender also had access to software installed on his devices that hid his online identity and activity.”

Ms Stone said police also found an account for online, encrypted storage platform MEGA NZ, linked to an email account in Ranasinghe’s name, containing more than 4000 child porn images and video files.

Jackson Ranasinghe.

“User’s are able to create accounts and upload data into the encrypted and secured cloud drive, users may also make a file, or folder which contains multiple files, available to other users,” she said.

“The offender initially declined to provide police with the password for the MegaNZ account, however, after being served with a (court) order, and after receiving legal advice, he provided the unique password for police to gain access to that account.”

Ms Stone said on Ranasinghe’s phone, investigators found a bookmark for a web page titled “Lolitas”, containing videos of young, pre-pubescent children posing in front of webcams, exposing themselves or engaging in sex acts.

His lawyer, Shane McMaster, applied for an adjournment so he could be assessed for a suspended sentence or home detention.

Ranasinghe will return to court for a sentencing hearing on July 20.