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Police & Courts
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A young man who procured 1224 files depicting child abuse on four phones and a disc drive has been sentenced for his “utterly unacceptable” behaviour.
Alec McGeary, 22, appeared in the Supreme Court of Tasmania at Hobart on Tuesday on one count of using a carriage service to access child abuse material and one count of possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service.
The former IT worker pleaded guilty to both charges at an earlier Magistrates court date.
Acting Justice David Porter said McGeary was living in Sydney when his home was raided by police in May.
A story from The Daily Telegraph in May said the amateur porn star had been nabbed by the Australian Federal Police in a national operation cracking down on a child abuse material distribution network.
Four mobile phones and a disc drive in McGeary’s home contained videos and images of child abuse material.
The files depicted acts ranging in severity from category one – sexually suggestive posing or nudity – to category five – humiliation, sadism or bestiality.
Acting Justice Porter said many of the videos depicted adults performing penetrative and non-penetrative acts on children of varying ages, including a three-year-old boy.
“I had the misfortune of being obliged to look at representative still images of the material,” Acting Justice Porter said.
He said 25 per cent of the content portrayed the highest two categories which he described as “particularly grave and disturbing”.
McGeary moved back to Tasmania in June last year following his arrest.
The former Rosny College student told police in an interview he had looked at child abuse material over about two to three years.
Acting Justice Porter said the man had engaged in a high level of sexual activity, participating in group sex and SS & MM.
McGeary obtained the child exploitation material from a man he had contacted online.
Acting Justice Porter said it was not clear whether McGeary’s pedophilic interest was “a phase or persistent”.
A psychological report indicated McGeary had prospects of rehabilitation and “seems to be remorseful and committed to a law-abiding lifestyle”.
“I note the letter written by the defendant to the court in which he says that he is deeply regretful for his actions,” Acting Justice Porter said.
The Acting Justice said McGeary did not initially comprehend the harm of his actions.
“By the age of 20 in my view the defendant ought to have known that this type of material was utterly unacceptable,” the Acting Justice said.
He sentenced McGeary to a six-month home detention order and convicted the man on both counts.
The man will be subject to electronic monitoring and his name has been placed on the register.
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