STATE OF TASMANIA v PETER ANTHONY DENHOLM 5 DECEMBER 2024
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Peter Denholm, you plead guilty to possessing child abuse material obtained or accessed through a carriage service contrary to the Criminal Code (Cth), s 474.22A(1). On 12 July 2023 Federal and State police officers searched your home in St Leonards. They found a laptop and a hard drive. The laptop did not contain any child abuse material which was accessible to the user, but it had been used to access and obtain child abuse material which was stored on the hard drive. Analysis of the Web browsers on the laptop revealed that you had accessed such material in the period of just over two years between 14 May 2021 and 15 June 2023 and had websites bookmarked which obviously related to mostly young girls. On the hard drive there were 201 child abuse material images which depicted young females aged between about 6 and 17. They included sexually explicit images of girls aged between about 6 and 13.
In sentencing I am required to impose a sentence that is of a severity appropriate in all the circumstances of your offence and have regard to such of the matters set out in s 16A(2) of the Crimes Act as are relevant and known. Your personal circumstances were described by your counsel and in materials with which I have been provided. That material includes two reports from a forensic psychologist, Dr Georgina O’Donnell.
You are now aged 48. You have no prior convictions except for some irrelevant traffic matters. Your early family circumstances and education were unremarkable. You held employment in the thoroughbred racing industry for about 20 years and then in local government, where you have held positions of increasing seniority and responsibility. You lost that employment as a result of this criminal charge. You have been involved in a number of relationships, but the one with your current partner is the longest. You have a child born in 2019. According to Dr O’Donnell the birth of your child was a trigger for experiencing posttraumatic stress resulting from sexual abuse perpetrated against you when you were between 9 and 12 by a person who was not a member of your family. You were introduced to pornography at that time and have been a regular but secret user of it since. You have also been a problematic user of alcohol. Since 2019 your heightened awareness of the past abuse has been increasingly intrusive and was amplified by your use of alcohol. Dr O’Donnell reports, as is well known, the psychologically damaging effects of childhood sexual abuse and its significance as a risk factor for future sexual offending.
Since your apprehension for these crimes you have been undertaking intensive treatment and therapy to address the issues explained by Dr O’Donnell. I have reports from another forensic psychologist, Mr van der Wijngaart who you have been seeing for therapy, and from a counsellor, Mr Roper. There is also a letter of support from a retired physician. You were his long term patient as well as the son of an employee. He attests to your otherwise good character and to the significant impact that this matter has had on your family relationships, including your child. Independently of any sentence I impose you have been the subject of community condemnation. You are sorry for what you have done and, as a result of the therapy you have received, you have better insight into the seriousness of it. You have committed yourself to continuation of the rehabilitation steps you have commenced. Dr O’Donnell, for a range of reasons including the therapy so far undertaken, assesses you as presenting a low risk of re-offending.
There was some limited co-operation with the police. Although you initially claimed during the search that they would not find any child exploitation material and did not disclose the existence of the hard drive, the investigation was not diverted and you later made some admissions. It is in your favour that you have pleaded guilty at what I accept was a relatively early stage. There was some delay after you were charged but that was as a result of the investigation and disclosure process and the plea was entered soon after that was complete. The plea has avoided the necessity for a trial and facilitated justice. There was never any likelihood that a victim would have been required to give evidence. Compared to some cases the number of images was not large but the primary focus is the nature of the images. Some factors which may have made the nature of these images even more serious are not present. A representative sample of the images was described to me and none depict a child involved in sexual activity either on their own or with anyone else. The images were not stored in a sophisticated manner and were not encrypted. They were only for your own use.
In Dr O’Donnell’s opinion there is a causal link between the psychological injury which resulted from the abuse to which you were subjected and the offending because it created chronic sexual and intimacy problems and resulted in avoidant and dissociative coping strategies. In her view, your mental functioning impaired your ability to exercise appropriate judgment, to make calm and rational choices and think clearly, made you disinhibited and reduced your ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of your conduct. However I think that in this case these factors carry limited weight. You took deliberate steps to find and save the material onto the hard drive. There were multiple searches over a long period and your searches were associated with the use of alcohol. You knew it was wrong and there was ample opportunity for you to reflect on what you were doing.
The treatment you have been receiving in the community will not likely be available while in prison and so your mental health may deteriorate as a result. I also take into account the probable effect of your imprisonment on your family. I am informed that you have recently been the primary care giver for your child. Your imprisonment may have an adverse effect on him. I take that into account but it is also part of the price to be paid for serious crime and results from your own conduct.
I take all of those matters into account. However for offences involving child abuse and child exploitation, general deterrence is the primary sentencing consideration. Specific deterrence, punishment and protection of the community are also very important. The factors I have referred to which are personal to you carry less weight. The reason is that there is a paramount public interest in the promoting the protection of children. Children across the world are corrupted, abused and exploited to create the type of material which you possessed. This type of crime is difficult to detect and so sentences must serve not only to punish offenders but also to warn others of the potential consequences.
I am required by the Crimes Act, s 19AC, to make a recognizance release order. Section 20(1)(b) requires that for a Commonwealth child sex offence your release on such an order must be only after you have served a specified period of imprisonment unless there are exceptional circumstances. I am not satisfied that, either individually or in combination, the circumstances that have been outlined to me are exceptional. However in light of what seem to be good prospects of rehabilitation, a relatively low risk of re-offending and your early plea, I will order your release after having served the minimum period required to meet the sentencing aims I have identified.
You are convicted on the indictment. I am not satisfied that you do not pose a risk of committing a reportable offence within the meaning of that term in the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005 in the future. I make an order directing that the Registrar cause your name to be placed on the Register and that you comply with the reporting obligations under the Act for a period three years from your release.
You are sentenced to imprisonment for 21 months from 22 November 2024, the day you were taken into custody. I order that you be released after having served 12 months of that term upon you giving security by recognisance without surety in the sum of $2,000 that you will be of good behaviour for a period of two years from your release. The conditions of that order will be that, while the order is in force, you:
(a) be subject to the supervision of a probation officer appointed in accordance with the order; and
(b) obey all reasonable directions of the probation officer; and
(c) not travel interstate or overseas without the written permission of the probation officer; and
(d) undertake such treatment or rehabilitation programs that the probation officer reasonably directs.
You are required to report to the office of Community Corrections at Cameron Street Launceston, Launceston, within two days of your release from custody, report to and while the order is in force receive visits from a Community Corrections Officer and notify an officer at Community Corrections of any change of address or employment within two clear working days of the change. The purpose of the recognizance release order I have just made is to provide an incentive for you not to re-offend and to encourage your rehabilitation. If you fail to comply with a condition of the recognizance, for example by committing some further offence, you may be called upon to pay the sum of $2,000, and a court may order that you serve the remainder of the term.