Darwin Private Hospital worker Kaushik Paul sentenced over ‘depraved’ child abuse videos

A hospital worker who shared ‘depraved’ videos of children in a WhatsApp group has become a ‘social pariah’ after cops raided his Top End workplace.

A former Darwin hospital worker has become a “social pariah” after cops busted him with depraved child abuse material, including a video of a naked baby being vigorously “shaken”.

Kaushik Paul, 55, appeared in the Supreme Court in Darwin on Thursday after pleading guilty to accessing, possessing and sharing graphic videos of pre-pubescent children into a WhatsApp group.

Justice Sonia Brownhill heard that over a three-year period the hospital worker shared five videos and an image to 74 people on the encrypted messaging platform.

One of these “depraved” videos was of an unknown man laughing while vigorously shaking a naked baby.

Paul’s barrister Matthew Hubber said there was another “bizarre” video of “some sort of custom or ritual”.

It was not alleged the videos were made by Paul.

The Supreme Court heard a Border Force alert went off for the 54-year-old medical worker when his plane landed in Darwin from India in November 2022.

A former Darwin hospital worker Kaushik Paul who pleaded guilty to accessing, sharing and possessing child abuse material leaving the Supreme Court in Darwin on Thursday September 19. Picture: Zizi Averill

Justice Brownhill said Border Force officers asked if they would find anything of interest if they checked his phone, and Paul replied: “Yes, sex things”.

“(They) asked who was having sex, you said ‘Me, it is things downloaded from Facebook and YouTube … but there is one video of a little boy’,” she said.

Three months later his workplace at Darwin Private Hospital was flooded by Northern Territory Joint Anti-Child Exploitation agents and the Australian Federal Police, with the medical sterilisation instrument technician arrested and charged.

Mr Hubber said this very public arrest meant the medical worker had “become somewhat of a social pariah within his social circles”.

Justice Brownhill heard Paul’s search history showed he had a sexual interest in teenagers, but the videos and images discovered on his two Samsung phones showed that this expanded to pre-pubescent children.

“The exchange of child abuse material fuels the market for it and perpetuates its availability online,” she said.

“The existence of the market creates the need for children to be exploited, degraded, violated and abused in order to supply it.

Justice Brownhill said Paul had not shown any evidence of remorse for the “very serious offending”.

A former Darwin hospital worker Kaushik Paul who pleaded guilty to accessing, sharing and possessing child abuse material leaving the Supreme Court in Darwin on Thursday September 19. Picture: Zizi Averill

She convicted him to a strict two years supervision order, where Paul will be required to attend treatment programs and report to a parole officer.

Paul is barred from leaving the Territory, and is not able to contact children under the age of 16 without the supervision of an adult.

Justice Brownhill warned if he breached any of these conditions he could still face jail time.

“It’s a heavy burden you take on complying with those conditions,” she said.

Paul spent four days on remand, but Justice Brownhill said the limited prison time was not outside the range of sentencing options for a man with good prospects of rehabilitation, and the “extracurial punishments” of the public embarrassment and loss of employment.

Originally published as Darwin Private Hospital worker Kaushik Paul sentenced over ‘depraved’ child abuse videos