Former Central QLD council employee Gordon Charles Batts busted with CEM

The long-term SES and Meals on Wheels volunteer said he didn’t think his stash of child exploitation material ‘was hurting anyone’.

Emerald District Court heard Gordon Charles Batts, 58, claimed he was intoxicated when he went looking for adult pornography online and first came across the CEM.

A former Central Queensland council employee and long-term SES volunteer has been jailed for possessing child exploitation material.

He told police he ‘didn’t think it was hurting anyone’ to view the vile illegal material, a court heard.

Emerald District Court heard Gordon Charles Batts, 58, claimed he was intoxicated when he went looking for adult pornography online and first came across the CEM.

Crown prosecutor Ryan Godfrey said a court report showed the former Central Highlands Regional Council employee also admitted to having used marijuana most of his adult life before turning to methamphetamines following the breakdown of his marriage in 2016.

Batts pleaded guilty to one count of possessing CEM.

Police raided his Emerald residence in late June 2022 and found 38 videos and 813 images stored on two iPads, a USB drive and a phone.

Mr Godfrey said 36 of the videos and 53 of the images had real humans in them as opposed to the remainder which were anime.

Judge Jennifer Rosengren said the CEM depicted pre-pubescent girls, aged under 13 years, engaged in sexual activities.

She said children aged six to 1o were erotically posed with some in swimwear and some in underwear acting provocatively with focus on their genital areas.

Ms Rosengren said there were some images of naked boys and girls aged between four and 14 years.

“You told the police that you would look at this material whenever you were drinking and you didn’t think that it was hurting anyone,” she said.

“You also said you hadn’t searched it intentionally and that it would pop up when you were looking at adult porn.”

Defence barrister Sheridan Shaw talked about the ‘social isolation’ of her client, who had been an SES volunteer for 14 years and also volunteered for Meals on Wheels.

“It’s very rare that I have a client who says ‘I don’t even have a friend to look after my dog should I go to prison’,” she said.

Judge Rosengren sentenced Batts to two months prison, followed by being released on a Corrective Services Order for two years.

Originally published as Former Central QLD council employee Gordon Charles Batts busted with CEM