By Mitchell Clarke
A former Pakenham CFA volunteer has been sentenced to six months jail after he was nabbed with vile child abuse material.
Andrew Harris, 47, was sentenced in the County Court on 12 May, almost a year after police raided his Pakenham property and seized an Apple iPad with graphic content.
He was arrested by police and taken into custody to be interviewed.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigators from the Child Protection Operations unit initially linked a Tumblr account, which had published “child exploitation material”, to Harris.
The court heard that investigators reviewed the device’s search history and discovered a list of searches including ‘nude children’, ‘pre-teen Thai girls’ and ‘family nudity’.
Harris also searched how to adopt children from Thailand, and used the internet to ask ‘how to set up devices for privacy protection’, ‘how to send private messages’, and ‘how to be more anonymous online’.
Following his arrest, he resigned from his volunteer position with the CFA and was stood down from his job at Metro Trains without pay. He is currently employed as a freight driver.
The defence argued that Harris, who was awarded the Australian National Medal and National Emergency Medal for his work during Black Saturday, was of “good character” and that the offending occurred during stressful periods.
The court heard he was remorseful for his actions and had begun taking steps to rehabilitate.
The prosecution argued that the offending, which took place over an extended period of time, was “serious” and that a custodial sentence would be the only appropriate outcome.
Harris pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing child pornography and child abuse material.
Judge Anne Hassan noted the early guilty plea and said she was prepared to accept it as a form of remorse.
Had he not pleaded guilty, Harris would have been sentenced to 20 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 months.
Judge Anne Hassan said the possession of child abuse material was deemed a “very serious” offence.
“You have looked at numerous photos and videos of children being abused for your own sexual gratification,” Judge Hassan said.
“Access to child porn is regarded as very serious, morally depraved conduct, which is harmful to children.”
She said the defendant was an “avid viewer” of the explicit material, which perpetuated a market that led to the abuse of children.
“Children around the world are abused in order to satisfy a sexual gratification,” she added.
Harris was sentenced to six months imprisonment and was ordered to serve a two-year community corrections order once released.
