R v Abram WARWICK [2020] NSWDC 31

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Abram WARWICK [2020] NSWDC 31 Hearing dates: 28 February 2020 Decision date: 03 March 2020 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: NOMAN SC DCJ Decision: The overall sentence is one of 3 years and 5 months with an overall non-parole period of 1 year and 9 months. The non-parole period will expire on 1 December 2021. Catchwords: SENTENCING - Penalties - Imprisonment – plea of guilty – possess child abuse material – use carriage service to access child abuse material – use carriage service to transmit child abuse material - use carriage service to make available child abuse material – general deterrence – prospects of rehabilitation – totality. Legislation Cited: Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth); Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Crimes Act 1914 (Cth); Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act (1999) NSW. Category: Sentence Parties: Regina (Crown); Abram Warwick (Offender). Representation: Solicitors: Ibbett (Crown); Tiedt (Offender). File Number(s): 2018/352397; 2019/67497

Judgment 1. Abram Warwick, the offender, appears for sentence on six Commonwealth offences and one State offence all relating to his possession or use in some manner of child abuse material. 2. The offender entered pleas of guilty in the Local Court on 8 October 2019 to all seven charges. 3. Five offences are either of making available, transmitting or accessing child abuse material and are contrary to s.474.19[1] of the Commonwealth Criminal Code. This offence has a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment. 4. There is one offence of committing at least three of the offences under s.474.19 to at least two persons contrary to s.474.24A[1] of the Commonwealth Criminal Code. This offence has a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment. 5. The sole State offence is for possessing child abuse material contrary to s.91H[2] Crimes Act. This offence has a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. 6. The maximum penalty for an offence reflects the seriousness with which each offence is regarded. 7. The Crown tendered agreed facts as part of Exhibit A on sentence. I have had regard to the entire document although for delivering my reasons for sentence intend to incorporate only select parts. 8. The offences involve the use of two social media applications. 9. 'Tumblr' is a blogging and social networking website that allows users to create accounts and post content such as photos and videos. Every 'Tumblr' user has a unique individual username which is used to create an account and navigate through the website. 'Tumblr' allows users to search for content that other users have posted, to comment on those posts, to share them and to 'like' posts. The offender used his own information to create each account. 10. 'Wickr Me' is an end-to-end encrypted messaging application that promotes secure file sharing between peers. The users create a username that allows conversation with an increased level of privacy. 11. Some of the child abuse material located was classified in accordance with CETS classification.