Fine for child abuse images

John Benedetto, 29, formerly of Tennyson north of Bendigo, pleaded guilty in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to two counts of possessing child exploitation material after being extradited from Queensland on Tuesday.

The court heard the images involved children between the ages of 10 and 17 engaged in sexual acts, including bondage.

Police prosecutor Sally Mannell said Benedetto’s former partner first discovered the images on his mobile phone in March, 2015, but she did not initially report the matter to police, instead confronting Benedetto and ending the relationship.

When police later contacted the woman following an anonymous tip-off she handed over a USB stick containing photos she had taken of the images on Benedetto’s phone.

When Benedetto was arrested in September, 2015, the phone was seized and an analysis revealed an additional 140 images of child exploitation material.

The court heard Benedetto admitted to possessing the images and said he downloaded them after being redirected from a legal pornography site, but could not explain how this occurred.

Senior Constable Mannell said Benedetto told police he was abused as a child and viewing the images “gave him a sense of power”.

Duty solicitor Kate Youngson told the court Benedetto was “also a victim”, having suffered physical and sexual abuse while living in foster care between the ages of 10 and 12 in Queensland and overseas.

Speaking outside court detective senior constable Jamie Stubbins of the central Victorian sexual offences and child abuse investigation team said although relatively little child abuse material was produced in Victoria, viewing the images was far from a victimless crime.

“These people downloading it, they think they’re not really doing anything wrong here, ‘no one sees it, only I see it’, but they’re demanding it, they’re downloading it and the people that get paid to do it or get their own sick thrill from doing it, they will continue to produce it,” he said.

“This is a case where we’ve pursued someone who’s left the jurisdiction and I hope that message [gets through] to people, that although it’s minor in their mind it’s not and we will pursue them.”