Main jailed for ‘serious’ child abuse material offences despite defence plea for home detention

A Moonah man caught with hundreds of “disgusting” child abuse files on his laptop has been sentenced after a judge rejected claims the case warranted home detention.

Po Finn Nathan Hammer, 24, appeared before Acting Justice Shane Marshall on Tuesday, to learn his fate after pleading guilty to one count of accessing child exploitation material. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

A Moonah man caught by police with hundreds of “disgusting” child abuse files on his laptop has been sentenced to two years imprisonment, after a Supreme Court judge rejected claims the defendant’s exceptional circumstances warranted home detention.

Po Finn Nathan Hammer, 24, appeared before Acting Justice Shane Marshall on Tuesday, to learn his fate after pleading guilty to one count of accessing child exploitation material.

The court heard that in December 2023, the defendant’s home was searched by officers from the Tasmania Police and Australian Federal Police Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team, who seized a MacBook laptop computer found to contain images and videos depicting children.

Acting Justice Marshall said Hammer had admitted to police the device belonged to him, that he used it to access child abuse material on the internet, and he knew doing so was wrong.

His Honour said that although Hammer’s charge related to a single day in 2023, it was not in dispute that the defendant had been accessing child abuse material for some time before his arrest.

Acting Justice Marshall addressed a defence application made during earlier submissions that a combination of factors in the case – including Hammer’s diagnosed psychological conditions, early guilty plea, lack of prior convictions, and expected vulnerability in a prison environment – qualified as the “exceptional circumstances” required to avoid the imposition of a non-custodial sentence.

His Honour indicated he was not satisfied that the circumstances of the case were exceptional, and said the nature of Hammer’s offending was too serious to contemplate home detention.

“This is a case where the objectively seriousness is of a very high scale,” Acting Justice Marshall said.

“A society that cannot protect its children is a society that is failing.”

Hammer was convicted of the Commonwealth offence, and sentenced to two years imprisonment, with an order that he be released after 12 months on condition he be of good behaviour for a year.

Acting Justice Marshall also ordered the defendant’s name to be placed on state’s community offender register for a period of two years following his release.