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01 Aug, 2025
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The excuse this man gave for 'accidentally' downloading 1.3 million child abuse files
@Source: canberratimes.com.au
A man who claims he "accidentally" downloaded 1.3 million child abuse material files while trying to pirate movies "must be the unluckiest man in Australia," the ACT's top judge has said. "A four-year-old gets raped in a bath, someone films it, and people download it," Chief Justice Lucy McCallum told lawyers on Friday, August 1, during the 58-year-old's sentencing hearing. "There is not the smallest acceptance of responsibility for the impact on that child." She was speaking about the attitude of Jude Alexander Homem, 58, who has pleaded guilty to possessing child abuse material and using a carriage service to access child abuse material. Despite those pleas, Homem's defence counsel argued that his client had accidentally downloaded the files while acquiring movies from the peer-to-peer file sharing platform LimeWire. Barrister John Lo Schiavo said Homem had deleted some of them, but "he just got lazy in not deleting". "Material can be downloaded that one is not expecting." A Commonwealth prosecutor said the downloading and possession of the material was "intentional" and Homem had saved it across seven devices, including hard drives and USB drives. She argued the images and videos were not "cloud-based" or hidden in his cache, and "it doesn't take a crystal ball" to know what the content was due to its titles. Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said some of the titles included "pedo land", "kid cam", and "PTHC", an acronym for pre-teen hardcore. "He can't have saved them without seeing those names," she stated. The Chief Justice said Homem had written a letter of apology to the court that implied his culpability was no greater "than accidentally ... downloading child abuse material". "He's not apologising to the four-year-olds who have been raped and filmed, he is apologising to me," she said, raising her voice. "I am not owed an apology; the children are owed an apology." "How many times could you download a folder and find to your horror [that it contains child abuse material], and then go and do it again?" Chief Justice McCallum asked the defence barrister. "He must be the unluckiest man in Australia." Mr Lo Schiavo argued that time in custody would be more difficult for Homem because of his physical health and his "short and long-term memory lapses". The barrister said his client might experience waking up in jail and not remembering where he was or why he was there. The prosecutor argued there was not enough evidence to support this claim. Mr Lo Schiavo also argued Homem lived with his elderly mother and was her carer, but the Chief Justice said there was no evidence of his caring role. Chief Justice McCallum said Homem would be spending some time behind bars and revoked his bail. His ACT Supreme Court sentence is expected to be handed down next week.
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