Teenager Aiden Jack Binnie appears in Supreme Court on child abuse and bestiality offences

AFP officers found almost 8000 images and videos of child abuse material on the various phones and electronic devices of a teenager, a court has been told.

A NORTH-WEST Tasmanian teenager has pleaded guilty to a series of charges after police found him in possession of almost 8000 images and videos of child exploitation material, with some victims described as being “toddler-aged”.

Aiden Jack Binnie, 19, of Devonport, appeared via video link on Friday in the Supreme Court in Hobart before Justice Stephen Estcourt, having pleaded guilty to all child abuse and bestiality offences.

The charges followed a 20-month investigation by the Australian Federal Police and Tasmanian Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team. AFP officers executed search warrants at Binnie’s home from October 2018 to January 2019.

Federal prosecutor Lewis Ringwaldt said police were alerted to posts by Binnie on social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Grindr. The court heard Binnie sent child abuse material to another Grindr user unknown to him of a young girl performing a sexual act on an adult. When the user asked Binnie the girl’s age, he replied “6”.

Binnie was participating in several group chats, under the username cplover1123, to exchange and discuss child abuse material. The court heard the chat groups were entitled “hardcore cp” and “baby pix” and members were required to share child abuse material to gain entry.

Mr Ringwaldt said 7970 images and videos of child abuse material were found in Binnie’s possession on various devices, including those depicting sexual intercourse between adults and children, as well as 27 bestiality products.

The child abuse images featured infant and prepubescent children, and some of the videos had “toddler-aged victims”. Defence lawyer Kirsten Abercrombie said Binnie had primarily grown up with his mother. His father had been sent to prison when Binnie was a child, also for child exploitation-related charges.

The court heard Binnie had been exposed to child abuse material for the first time when he was eight years old, by his father, and this had “desensitised him” to it.

The court heard Binnie had been diagnosed as autistic and had “always felt he was different to his peers”. Ms Abercrombie said he had developed an “obsession” with child abuse material, which was “a feature of his condition”. She asked that any prison sentence be paired with a community-based order “to ensure he receives the treatment he needs to reduce the risk of reoffending.”

Binnie is due to be sentenced on Monday.