Defence member wrote abuse 'fantasy' partly based on stepchild into work email

CONTENT WARNING: this story refers to child sex abuse and child sex abuse material.

A Defence member who wrote more than 200 pages of “sexual fantasy” about children in his work email account has escaped jail time.

The material was written from the view of the offender and featured a 17-year-old character based on the man’s stepchild, as well as other children, being subjected to a series of child sex abuse acts.

The 54-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court in late November.

In recently released remarks, Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson said the “prolonged” offending was written in “vivid detail”.

The man started writing the story in May 2023, when he was working in the ACT for the Australian Defence Force. He has since been formally discharged.

“The story mentions the girl with the same name as his step-daughter in excess of 900 times,” Justice Loukas-Karlsson said.

“The story also contains sexual fantasy about young girls at school.”

He would save the story as a draft email in his work email account, working on it while on shift.

In May 2024, while working in NSW, he accidentally sent the email to four colleagues. The matter was then reported to police, who interviewed him that evening.

During the interview, the man admitted that he used his work email to write the material.

Also, he told officers he could also access his work emails from home, though the account was protected “by a secure pass and password”.

The man was arrested and charged with possessing, controlling, producing, supplying or obtaining child abuse material for use through a carriage service.

After his arrest, police used specialised software to find photos that the man had taken and then deleted on his phone. These showed pubescent girls in their school uniforms.

He was not charged for that behaviour.

Justice Loukas-Karlsson noted a pre-sentencing report (a PSR) where the man claimed he wrote the material when he was feeling bored and isolated while at work.

“The PSR noted that it appeared as if the offender had created a distinction between himself and his story and disassociated himself from the actions and behaviours of the characters and story that he wrote,” she said.

According to the report, he denied being physically attracted to anyone but his wife and being “obsessed with teenagers as the story was fictional”.

The 54-year-old man had no criminal history and was described as having a low risk of re-offending.

Justice Loukas-Karlsson said that while he had expressed remorse, the man had also shown a “lack of developed insight” into why he offended.

“In my view, there is clearly a lack of insight on the part of the offender and a lack of logic in his purported excuse of ‘boredom’; creative writing does not have to involve committing a criminal offence,” she said.

Justice Loukas-Karlsson sentenced the man to 12 months imprisonment, set to expire in November 2025, which was immediately suspended.

He was also suspended to a three-year good behaviour order.

If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.