Shane William Harris sentenced for possessing child pornography
He told police he would not look at children ‘younger than 10’ after a raid uncovered more than 200 files of child abuse material.
Townsville
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A middle-aged man had more than 220 child porn and abuse files on his phone and two laptops when Australian Federal Police raided his Townsville home, the District Court has heard.
Shane William Harris, 58, pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing child abuse material, two counts of using a carriage service for child abuse material and one count of using a carriage service for child pornography material.
Commonwealth Prosecutor Sam Lanskey said Harris had committed the offences over a three-and-a-half year period from January 2018 to August 2021.
He said the father of two had been looking at sites featuring young models on Instagram when he was approached by a person from overseas and asked if he was looking for child pornography.
Mr Lanskey said Harris began taking the porn and abuse files, some of which he paid for, and viewing them for sexual gratification.
He said the files included girls as young as 10 performing sexual acts on adults.
“He told police he would not look at porn involving children under 10,” he said.
The court heard that Harris also accessed the dark net looking for child porn.
Australian Federal Police, armed with a search warrant, raided Harris’s home in August 2021, then located and forensically examined 223 files on his three devices that depicted pubescent and pre-pubescent females and males.
Judge Anthony Rafter said Harris had even accessed porn the day before the AFP raid.
Harris’s barrister Claire Grant said Harris was extremely remorseful but because of his actions he was no longer employed.
She said following his arrest he had breached his bail conditions by attempting to see his son.
Judge Rafter described the actions of Harris as ‘serious’ and sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment with parole eligibility after three months served.
Parole was listed for three years.
Originally published as Shane William Harris sentenced for possessing child pornography
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