A Mowbray man described as a loner with an interest in young boys was caught accessing child pornography material when police received a tip-off from a US monitoring organisation, the Supreme Court in Launceston has heard.
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Joshua Clifford Thomas Smith, 31, had 398 files of child pornography of six categories including sadism, bestiality, humiliation, torture and child abuse when police searched his rented unit in May 2017.
Smith accessed child pornography material from the Internet over a five month period from December 14 to May 30, 2017.
Justice Robert Pearce, who sentenced him to 12 months jail but allowed conditional release after three months, said that one image in particular accessed by Smith was of concern.
"The defendant communicated online with a person called Chris who lived in Melbourne or Sydney," he said.
"He told Chris of an interest in young boys and Chris sent the defendant four images depicting a four-year- old boy naked from the torso down.
"Chris told the defendant that he had taken the photographs and that the boy was his friend's child who he babysat and liked to see naked."
Smith was guilty of the charge of using a carriage service to transmit child pornography material when he engaged in sexualised chat via Whatsapp about sexual intercourse and activity with children.
"The defendant sent messages with graphic and explicit descriptions of him engaging in sexual activity with a 10-year-old boy he said he was babysitting from next door. The responses made clear that the other party was interested and encouraged by the defendant's statements," Justice Pearce said.
He pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to access child pornography material, one count of using a carriage service to transmit child pornography material and three counts of possessing child exploitation material.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
