"History will be kind to us, because we will write it"
The ABC informs us that former people’s hero, Acting Justice Neild, has handed down a year’s periodic detention to Michael Cooper, Canberra’s leading known collector of images of children being sexually abused.
Michael Cooper pleaded guilty of possessing a collection of child pornography amounting to almost 700,000 files, images and videos.
He also pleaded guilty to using the internet to access and publish child pornography.
In January 2010, police searched his Amaroo house acting on a tip-off from the FBI after the 53-year-old posted child porn onto a website.
The police seized eight computers, almost 700 computer disks and a number of hard drives.
In sentencing, Acting Justice John Nield said Cooper had become obsessed with collecting and seemed to regard it as a hobby like stamp collecting.
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What? So he can stay home and start a new collection? Hanging is too good for this loser.
This is ridiculous. I thought that Justice Nield was looking like a great addition to an otherwise lacluster judiciary.
Periodic detention…………………? God help us all then!
Disks? What, the plastic things that hold 1.44mb a piece?
As a philatelist, this offends me.
Do the polce
gospeedygo said :
More likely Compact Disks or Hard Disks or Digital Versatile Disk.
I wonder if the police give the hard drives back after wiping them? I assume not, but it raises interesting questions about physical storage versus simply owning/controlling data. I assume if you store your child pr0n in the cloud you can still be charged. Do the police remove the physical hard drives from google?
As a co-founder of B.A.C.A (Bikers Against Child Abuse) in Australia I find a sentence of this nature obscene in the extreme the fact that anyone and I mean ANYONE could compare collecting 700,000 photos of children being sexually abused to stamp collecting abhorent to say the least. As for Justice ‘laughable’ John Nield [deleted] I hope to god you don’t have kids. For more information on B.A.C.A please go to http://australia.bacaworld.org/
Cut his balls off!
p1 said :
Would have been a lot less confusing if they had of specified.
SgtSlaughter said :
Well, the comparison (how ever sad) is probably fair. What I find disturbing is the sentence. We are usually told that the reason people viewing this material is so evil is that it provides a market for the material, and therefore a motivation for people to abuse children. Since this individual was actively seeking as much as possible, he has been driving the abuse of children, and his sentence should reflect that.
SgtSlaughter said :
I just read the site – great work. Where can I get more info and a contact for this one!
Acting Justice John Nield doesn’t regard it like stamp collecting. The report means Acting Justice John Nield said that Cooper seemed to regard it like stamp collecting. Not many Justices (acting or otherwise) think that crimes are stamp collecting (except maybe Grand Theft Stamps).
I’m not generally a tougher-sentences-for-geography-teachers type, but seriously, periodic detention for a paedophile?? It offends me greatly.
It’s not in the same ballpark, but still disturbing, that ABC TV saw fit to screen last night on Hungry Beast a lengthy segment featuring footage of a man creating graphic sex scenes between children’s soft toys. Unpleasant to watch and redolent of course of pedophilia. The topic was supposedly some form of therapy, but there was no reason to screen those scenes. Gratuitous and pornographic. After 25 years, looks as though the pedophile lobby may be back attempting to subvert the mainstream.
gospeedygo said :
Those of us with common sense were able to figure that out without having it spelled out to us.
This sicko was accessing and publishing sick images. He wasn’t just jacking off over this stuff. I think the community expectation is a LOT more than 12 months periodic detention. Then again you barely get a slap on the wrist if you f#%$ a dog in Canberra.
At time of writting 5 out of 127 votes found the sentence fair and reasonable???
I’m all for free speech but its gotta make ya wonder.
Must have some judges voting.
I’d like to see a post by one of these individuals defending the sentence.
I am no fan of kiddie porn, but people need to engage with the facts. Do a few quick sums, and it is clear that no-one can have even a passing acquaintance with the contents of 700,000 files, images and videos.
His work may well be a treasure trove for investigators, and save them a lot of work.
I think that he is a probably harmless nerd/loser, and that Neild has got it right.
700,000 files equates to the biggest ACT haul ever; does 1 year weekend detention equate to the longest ACT sentence ever for this crime? If not, why bother chasing up this crime? It takes soooooo many AFP officers soooooo many hours a week to follow these criminals, to track them down and get them to court. This sentence is so light, it just makes me wonder why they even bother to invest so heavily in tracking the crime. The sentence gives a very clear message to offenders about how seriously governments and the justice system takes these crimes; which is rather much less then the community thinks is appropriate… This amounts to a (reasonably heavy handed) slap on the wrist; will it stop this guy offending? Un-bloody-likely…
beejay76 said :
I am also one that doesn’t jump on the laura norder band wagon, but have to say that at first blush, this sentence seems extremely lenient. I will wait until I can read the judges decision before I make up my mind though.
Totally unreasonable sentence, internet porn is just the start for these creeps. Next it’s Asian brothels, then, children near home. We’ve got to nip this sickness in the bud. He should have been given a long jail term.
You can help stop the Asian brothel breeding grounds by supporting the Grey Man organisation – http://www.thegreyman.org. and follow them on FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/thegreyman.org.
“Real Men Don’t Do This”
I-filed said :
Nothing would surprise me about the ABC. They give airtime to the most moronic and wacky left wingers under the sun so encouraging pedophilia is a logical progression.
I’m thinking of starting a lobby group to encourage Prime Minister Abbott next year to either privatise the ABC or else shift it to pay TV so the weirdos who work there and the fringe element who watch and listen to it will have to pay for the privilege and not have their perversions subsidised by the taxpayer.
John Moulis said :
Can you please explain how this was encouraging pedophilia?
John Moulis said :
That’s OK, I am going to lobby to have 2GB Nationalised, so that we can get the rightwing hatemongering loonies off the air, so their sick perversions are no longer funded.
p1 said :
Now now, p1, we both know that John loves getting on 2GB! If it is taken away from him, he may (heaven forbid!) post on RA more often… *shudders*
As for the sentence, it seems completely inadequate. That said, Justice Penfolds or ol’ mate Higgins would have ruffled this paedo’s hair, called him a cheeky rapscallion and sent him on his way with nothing.
John Moulis said :
Whatever dude.
Jim Jones said :
I’d support a ban on television.
Actually, that raises a point.
Every gov study and campaign says we should spend less time watching TV. So why is the gov spending ass loads of money promoting and supplying set top boxes and delaying turning of analogue TV? Surely just turning it off and forcing all the people without a digital box to read a book or go outside would be cheaper, and have health benefits?
The Frots said :
Hi Frots, thanks for your support. I assume you live in Canberra? unfortunately Canberra does not have an active Chapter of BACA at this time, however if you contact the National President at scott@fubar.net.au he will gladly give you any information you need/want. “BACA Mission Statement
Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) exists with the intent to create a safer environment for abused children. We exist as a body of Bikers to empower children to not feel afraid of the world in which they live. We stand ready to lend support to our wounded friends by involving them with an established, united organization. We work in conjunction with local and state officials who are already in place to protect children. We desire to send a clear message to all involved with the abused child that this child is part of our organization, and that we are prepared to lend our physical and emotional support to them by affiliation, and our physical presence. We stand at the ready to shield these children from further abuse. We do not condone the use of violence or physical force in any manner, however, if circumstances arise such that we are the only obstacle preventing a child from further abuse, we stand ready to be that obstacle.”
SgtSlaughter said :
So how does that fit in with OMC’s peddling drugs?
colourful sydney racing identity said :
May I suggest that you go to see a Doctor because quite clearly you have a problem FOOL.
B.A.C.A is NOT a motorcycle club let alone an OMC.
Please next time you even think about asking such an ill-considered mentally challenged question reflect on the following:
“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”
SgtSlaughter said :
I was just wondering whether you also go after OMC’s who deal drugs to children. Do you?