Sex offender Mitchell Rowland Cornell’s sentence extended in Maroochydore court

A reportable sex offender living on the Sunshine Coast has had his suspended sentence extended after he failed to report contact with a 13-year-old co-worker.

A Sippy Downs reportable sex offender has had his suspended sentence extended after he failed to report contact with a 13-year-old co-worker during a shift at his previous place of employment.

Mitchell Rowland Cornell, now 27, was sentenced back in 2018 to 18 months’ prison suspended for three years after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material.

Maroochydore District Court heard he was found in possession of just over 7000 child exploitation material with some of the files involved very young children engaging in sex.

Cornell had categorised the files and also sent a total of 20 child exploitation files to another person on three occasions.

Mitchell Rowland Cornell

Following the 2018 sentence by Judge Gary Long, reporting obligations were put in place for Cornell to inform police within 24 hours of any contact with a child.

Cornell failed to comply with the reporting obligation when he worked a shift with a 13-year-old girl at a Sunshine Coast cafe on April 19, 2022, and reported the contact seven days later.

He was sentenced in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on May 10 and fined $500 for the breach but the matter also came before Judge Long again in District Court.

Mitchell Rowland Cornell.

Defence solicitor Chelsea Emery said her client had Autism and had lost his employment after Cornell’s work colleagues found out about his criminal history.

Ms Emery said Cornell wanted to keep the situation private so it took him a few days to obtain the girl’s full name from the employer.

She said Cornell remained living with his family and was looking for more work.

Judge Long ordered that the operational period of the suspended sentence be extended by five months.

Originally published as Sex offender Mitchell Rowland Cornell’s sentence extended in Maroochydore court