By Jessica Anstice
A Cockatoo man has been sent to jail for a minimum of four years, after sexually abusing his young nephew.
The man in his 20s was found guilty of six child sex offence charges relating to incidents that occurred between January 2016 and June 2019.
In sentencing, Judge Jeanette Morrish told the man, who cannot be named in order to protect the victim, his offending against the young boy was “very serious”.
The crime was brought to the authority’s attention in June 2019, when the man’s friend attended a local police station to report a WhatsApp message that he had received from the offender containing child abuse material.
Following an investigation, police located over 2000 images of child abuse material on the offender’s phone.
“The acts depicted in the various images and video films are serious forms of sexual misconduct against children and would be regarded universally as serious crimes,” Judge Morrish said.
Further investigations found that the man had been sexually abusing and exploiting his nephew consistently over a three year period.
The victim was aged between four and seven-years-old at the time of the offending, while the man was in his early 20s.
When the young victim was interview by police, he stated that his uncle had told him not to tell anyone.
“The victim was reluctant to tell police what (offender) had done because he did not want to get into trouble or get (offender) into trouble,” Judge Morrish said.
On one occasion, the man was caught in the act by the child’s father.
Judge Morrish told the court the accused was “in a position of trust”, as he had accepted the responsibility of babysitting his nephew while his brother was out.
“You knew what you were doing was wrong as you had previously been caught in a compromising position with (victim) and you were warned not to do it again,” she said.
“Although the child apparently consented to your sexual acts, he was aged between four and seven years … His consent is of course no defence to these crimes.”
Judge Morris said all “decent and humane” societies regard children as “precious”.
“ … And seek to protect them from all forms of harm, including sexual abuse and exploitation,” she added.
“Although no victim impact statements have been filed, the law presumes that sexual misconduct committed against children causes them both short-term and long-term, physical and emotional, harm.”
Sentenced as a sex offender on 30 June, the Cockatoo man was jailed for up to eight years, including a four year non-parole period.
