A CAMPBELL TOWN paedophile will no longer rely on claims made in court that a bizarre childhood led to some extreme sexual fetishes like a desire to wear nappies.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Last month Leigh Andrew Coghlan, 41, pleaded guilty to 12 charges of accessing and sharing child pornography.
The charges related to more than 1000 child exploitation images and videos found on two computers.
During his plea of mitigation on November 26, Launceston's Supreme Court heard his mother had dressed him like a girl when he was a child.
Family members then began calling him "little sister".
It was put that this dysfunctional upbringing had led to his paraphilias, such as nappy wearing, the desire to be treated like a female infant and urophilia.
Yesterday Commonwealth prosecutor Ian Arendt said his office now took issue with these asserted facts.
Justice Robert Pearce pointed out they were made in open court and the prosecution had been present at the time.
Mr Arendt said it was when they appeared in The Examiner's coverage of the case that Coghlan's family contacted the Australian Federal Police to dispute the claims.
On this basis the prosecution would seek to contest the claims depending on how much weight Justice Pearce planned to give them during sentencing, he said.
Defence counsel Alan Hensley said Coghlan would no longer rely on the assertions that his mother dressed him like a girl when he was a child.
He said more important was a psychiatrist's finding that Coghlan's attraction to pre-teen girls was due to a sexual encounter he had with a 10-year-old when he was just 12.
Mr Arendt will examine how much weight medical reports tendered to the court had relied on the claims. The case resumes today.