R v Glenn Kelvin SMITH [2007] NSWDC 315

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Glenn Kelvin SMITH [2007] NSWDC 315

HEARING DATE(S): 25 October 2007 1 November 2007

JUDGMENT DATE: 1 November 2007

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Berman SC DCJ

DECISION: The offender is sentenced to imprisonment with a non parole period of six months and head sentence of one year and three months.

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - Using a child of or above the age of 14 for pornographic purposes - Internet - Vulnerability

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes Act 1900

PARTIES: The Crown Glenn Kelvin Smith

FILE NUMBER(S): 07/31/0271

SOLICITORS: NSW DPP Colin A Hogan & Co

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: Glenn Kelvin Smith appears for sentence today having pleaded guilty at an earlier stage to an offence against s 91G(2)(a) of the Crimes Act. That is an offence of using a child of or above the age of fourteen for pornographic purposes. A child is defined a person under the age of eighteen. The complainant in this case was sixteen years of age whilst the offender was fifty-seven.

2 The complainant lived in the United States of America and the offender lived at Marks Point. They met over the internet, after the offender established contact with the complainant when they were both in an internet Christian chat room. They private messaged each other and a relationship developed. This relationship included them corresponding with each other through the use of email, SMS messages, letters and they also made telephone calls to each other. The relationship commenced around 8 October 2006 and continued until 10 February 2007 when the relationship was reported to police in the United States of America by a friend of the complainant's.