A leading barrister has called for an overhaul of the Victorian legal system after a Ballarat man avoided jail despite being found with hundreds of images of child pornography in his possession.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Former principal federal prosecutor at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions Elizabeth Johnson condemned the “lenient” sentenced handed down to Patrick Cronin on Wednesday.
The Ballarat Magistrates Court previously heard 62,340 images were found on Cronin’s laptop, with 612 images showing examples of illegal child exploitation.
A number of the images included sexual activities with toddlers and pre-pubescent children.
Cronin was convicted and sentenced to a two-year CCO, ordered to undertake 200 hours of community work and participate in a sex offender program.
He was also placed on the sex offender register for eight years.
His sentence has sparked outcry across Ballarat.
The Courier’s story on his sentence earlier this week has reached more than 80,000 people and been shared more than 1000 times.
Social media has been flooded with residents slamming the sentence and calling for Cronin to be jailed.
Ms Johnson is calling for a tribunal equipped to deal with the complexities of sexual predators to be established.
“Sexual offence issues ultimately needs a specialist tribunal dealing with these matters,” she said.
“We’ve just had a royal commission which has told us so much about the prevalence of sexual offending. We should be using those lessons to determine what is the best way forward for justice.”
Earlier this year, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and Office of Public Prosecutions ran a crown appeal based on manifestly inappropriate sentences in child exploitation cases, she said.
“The law is very clear in child exploitation cases that an immediate term of imprisonment must be ordered unless there are exceptional circumstances,” Ms Johnson said.
“In my view there were no way unusual circumstances surrounding this case.”
She said flaws in the current system allowed offenders like Cronin to flourish.
"We have to stop this.. these are real children who are being assaulted in the most disgraceful of circumstances," she said.
"Very often these perpetrators will trade their own material to get other material.”
Ballarat clergy sexual abuse survivor Andrew Collins called on the Attorney General to appeal the sentence.
“Child pornography is a crime with victims,” he said.
“There is no consent and it is child abuse. I call upon the Attorney General to appeal the sentence.”
“Jail time and being on the sex offenders list for life should be imposed. Ballarat’s children must be kept safe.”