A 53-year-old Sebastopol man diagnosed with paedophilia has faced court for viewing child pornography.
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Police prosecutor Senior Constable Jack Fletcher said detectives attended Daryl John Dixon's home in October 2019 to check his compliance with registered sex offender conditions.
They reviewed the history on his mobile phone and found a number of searches relating to child abuse material.
Data extracted from the phone showed searches targeting images of naked children and babies, including them swimming and bathing, on September 30, October 1 and October 31, 2019.
The court heard Dixon made full admissions to viewing the child abuse material and identified they were inappropriate subjects to be searching.
In his mind he believed he would be caught and sent back to jail in a way that wouldn't cause harm to a child.
- Heidi Keighran, defence lawyer
Defence lawyer Heidi Keighran said the majority of the photos Dixon had viewed were of naked children and fell into the lowest category of child abuse material.
She said Dixon had served almost 12 years in prison for sexual offences against young children and was released in 2018.
Ms Keighran said Dixon believed he should have been given a life sentence or the death penalty for his crimes.
She said the trigger for the searches was an upcoming birthday and he was struggling after his release from prison.
"He viewed prison as his home," Ms Keighran said.
"In his mind he believed he would be caught and sent back to jail in a way that wouldn't cause harm to a child.
"He knows he is a paedophile and he must live with it and work on it every day for the safety of the community."
A psychologist report said Dixon was also diagnosed with depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder.
It said his paedophillia began in his late adolescence and the cause remains unknown, but it could be linked to the experience of sexual abuse he suffered as a child and seeing his father sexually abuse other victims.
Ms Keighran said Dixon had pleaded guilty early, made full admissions, was cooperative with police, did not save or download images and made no attempt to disguise his searches.
She said Dixon was due to have open heart surgery soon to remove a tumour, suffered epilepsy, pancreatitis and was medicated for depression.
"There are aggravating features. The names of some of the searches are extremely disturbing, and he will be sentenced as a serious sex offender," Ms Keighran said.
"He is open to receiving medical treatment for his disorder... and he is starting to assimilate into the community after a long period of time in custody."
Ms Keighran submitted Dixon should be sentenced to a community corrections order to assist his rehabilitation in the community.
Magistrate Ron Saines said the prosecution did not identify the quantity and type of child abuse material there was in the searches and the search material likely did not involve exploitation of the child.
"If the images are 'here is our two-year-old in the bath', it doesn't amount to a sexual offence on the child for the purpose of viewing the material," he said.
"It puts it in a whole different sentencing range."
Mr Saines said he would sentence on the basis of Dixon's admissions some of what he viewed was child abuse material.
He said leniency would be given based on his early plea of guilty and full admissions to police at his time of arrest.
"I am satisfied there is insufficient basis here for the imposition of a custodial sentence," Mr Saines said.
Dixon will be assessed for a community corrections order and will return to court for sentencing in February.
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