Two men who committed hundreds of acts of child sexual abuse, including against family members and children under their watch at a daycare center, received a combined 63-year sentence for their crimes.
The men, ages 25 and 30, used their numerous victims as “playthings” before being arrested in June 2020, a judge declared during their sentencing Tuesday.
The duo were in a relationship before raids under an Australian Federal Police-led task force that revealed one of the worst cases of child abuse in the nation’s history.
The eldest of the men, neither of whom can be identified for legal reasons, was sentenced to 37 years behind bars in Sydney’s Downing Center District Court.
He was given a non-parole period of 26 years, meaning he will not be eligible for release until June 2046.
Judge Sarah Hopkins (pictured) said the men engaged in a persistent and predatory pattern of crime, dehumanizing their victims as “playthings”.
Two men who committed hundreds of acts of child abuse were sentenced to a total of 63 years behind bars at Sydney’s Downing Center Local Court (pictured)
The young man received a sentence of 26 years with a non-parole period of 16 years and nine months, making him eligible for release for the first time in March 2037.
Both men reported being sexually and physically assaulted while behind bars and are in protective custody as a result.
Following their arrests, the men pleaded guilty to hundreds of felony counts of child abuse, including aggravated sexual relations with very young children, in March 2022.
The older man, who worked at a daycare center, was convicted of 248 offences, including 195 acts of a sexual nature against 27 children.
The young man was found guilty of 106 crimes, including physical acts against seven children, some of them his sisters’ children.
Judge Sarah Hopkins said the men engaged in a pattern of predatory and persistent offending, dehumanizing their victims as “playthings”.
Although the men were relatively young at the time of the crime – including one of whom was a minor when the offenses began – the judge said the “prolonged and atrocious” nature of their abuse meant their youth was less significant. when determining the sentence.
He noted that the significant jail terms imposed on the men reflected the community’s “abhorrence” for such crimes and the need for general deterrence.
After being employed at a daycare in June 2017, the older man recorded hundreds of photos and videos of children, including showing him lifting their clothes.
The abuse was discovered when one parent told the center that his son complained that the man kissed him on the lips and liked to “look at his butt.”
Following an investigation, the man received a banning notice preventing him from working in child care and education and resigned from the center in January 2019.
Police would later recover hundreds of thousands of images and videos of child abuse from devices confiscated from the men.
The older man admitted sharing the material online and collaborating with a network of like-minded people, the true extent of which remained unknown, the court was told.
AFP Commander Kate Ferry said the operation that led to the men’s arrests uncovered some of the worst crime the agency has ever seen.
“The criminal behavior of these two men is perhaps the most disturbing representation of what child sex offenders are capable of doing,” he said.
‘Being the systemic sexual abuse of children over many years, in all geographic locations and by people who have been entrusted with so much responsibility.’
The older man was convicted of 248 offences, including 195 acts of a sexual nature against 27 children (file image pictured).
Both men reported experiencing sexual abuse as children, including extreme acts of degradation committed against the older man that were reportedly filmed and posted online.
Judge Hopkins accepted that the older man was remorseful but had a limited view of the nature of his offending.
In a letter to the court, the man said: “I confused love, care, trust and affection with abuse.”
He demonstrated narcissistic, pedophilic and empathy disorders, and was at high risk of offending in the future, meaning he should never be given access to children, the court was told.
You may also be a candidate for antilibidinal therapy, commonly known as “chemical castration.”
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Support Service for Reparation and Sexual Abuse 1800 211 028