Jye Stephen McCafferty found with child exploitation material in Bridges
A three-month-old baby being exploited was one of multiple child sexual abuse files found on a former Sunshine Coast plasterer’s electronic devices after his home was raided by police.
Police & Courts
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A former Bridges plasterer who was found with child exploitation material contributed to the closure of his dad’s business due to his criminal charges, a court has heard.
Jye Stephen McCafferty, 25, escaped a conviction after a police raid on his phone found “abhorrent” pictures and videos of children being exploited online.
Maroochydore District Court heard police raided his Bridges home on November 6, 2021 with the files found on a MacBook laptop and Samsung tablet.
It’s here police discovered videos and 147 images of child exploitation material.
The court was told some of the “abhorrent” details of the files found across both devices which involved babies, toddlers and pre-pubescent children being sexually abused.
One of the worst files found was a three-month-old baby being exploited.
The Bridges man admitted to police he used an alias while searching for the disgusting material and had come across it after searching for “weird porn”.
He would download the material and delete it but would re-download it at various times after getting an “urge” to look at it again.
The former social footy player and ex-plasterer had co-operated with police, made frank admissions and had suffered from “social isolation” due to his charges, the court heard.
Maroochydore District Court was told McCafferty’s father closed his plastering business down due to the media attention following the 25-year-old’s arrest.
Judge Long acknowledged McCafferty would be looking to move to Western Australia following his sentence for work.
McCafferty pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material and was sentenced to two years’ probation.
No conviction was recorded.
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Originally published as Jye Stephen McCafferty found with child exploitation material in Bridges
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