A clinical psychologist cannot rule out a Sebastopol father, who collected almost 200,000 child abuse images, has paedophilia.
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Dr Alison Maynard said the 34-year-old man experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, social anxiety disorder and autism traits, which she believed contributed to him downloading the illegal images.
She said Rowan James Parkyn denied he had a particular interest in children, during a two-hour assessment of him, but she would not rule out a paedophilia diagnosis.
The clinical psychologist was a defence witness at an appeal hearing at the County Court of Victoria on Wednesday.
The Office of Public Prosecutions has brought an appeal against the five-month prison sentence Parkyn received at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court in July.
Parkyn was living with his wife and three children when he downloaded the illegal images of children aged between three to 16-years-old.
Police found the child abuse images on three devices, which included two of Parkyn's mobile phones and his laptop.
This was after Parkyn's wife discovered some of the child pornography on his phone and told a friend who reported it to police.
Parkyn was arrested at his aged care workplace on August 22, last year, after his wife unlocked his mobile phone at home to show the images to police.
He told police he downloaded the images from a website which he had found "accidentally" eight months earlier.
Parkyn said he found he was sexually aroused and stimulated by the images after discovering the site.
The prosecution questioned Dr Maynard about this statement Parkyn made to investigators during his interview.
Crown prosecutor Jason Harkess put to the psychologist Parkyn had not told her enough about himself, to which she replied, "possibly".
"He obtained images and got on a roller coaster he couldn't stop," Dr Maynard said.
Mr Harkess then asked if Parkyn had some fundamental paedophilia tendency, to which Dr Maynard said, "it's possible" and "I would not rule out paedophilia diagnosis".
The clinical psychologist told the court part of Parkyn's depression meant he could not regulate his emotions, he avoided talking about his childhood trauma, he had no empathy and he found it difficult to shift his focus.
She said she believed Parkyn's decision making skills had been impaired and he counteracted his depression by collecting the child abuse images.
The court was told Parkyn had been experiencing these symptoms for many years.
"His ability to shift his focus and monitor his behaviour has been affected by his depression and autism traits," Dr Maynard said.
Dr Maynard said Parkyn told her he had not been able to distinguish the images between an adult or a child and she thought this notion needed to be explored.
She said imprisonment was not the best treatment for Parkyn because his PTSD symptoms would worsen and he would become more vulnerable.
"He needs to be in a safe environment and a trusted alliance ... which would reduce his re-offending," she said.
Dr Maynard said she had assessed 30 sex offenders in the past 10 years and they all had the same childhood trauma and many had autism traits and PTSD.
But she said the amount of child abuse images Parykn had collected was significant compared to other sex offenders she had assessed.
Defence barrister Jarrod Williams submitted Parkyn's medical conditions should be taken into account in his sentence.
"We say there is a link between these impairments and Mr Parkyn's offending. That's realistic," Mr Williams said.
"These conditions bear upon the kind of sentence ought to be imposed in this case. A sentence of imprisonment is limited to two years."
The prosecution reminded the court Parkyn had downloaded 193,005 child abuse images over eight months, which accounted to more than 800 images a day.
"That is appalling," Mr Harkess said.
"It's this kind of obsession that fuels the child abuse industry in the world."
Mr Harkess said the psychologist's evidence was a point of contention because there was no evidence as to the main cause of Parkyn's offending. He said the court had been left up in the air.
Parkyn was employed as an aged care worker and studying nursing at the time of the offending.
He is in custody serving his five-month sentence, which included a two-year community corrections order following his release from prison.
Parkyn pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. Judge Wendy Wilmoth is expected to hand down her decision on the appeal on September 18.
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