A sentence of 12 months' imprisonment wholly suspended for a youthful first offender possessing 907 CEM images (including category 4 and 5 material) is within the proper range under the current maximum penalty of 14 years. The amendments to ss 9(6A) and 9(7) of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld), which remove the imprisonment-as-last-resort principle for CEM offences and require primary regard to deterrence and child protection, make earlier comparable cases of limited utility. Community-based orders without conviction remain available in exceptional cases (such as R v Daw) but the scale and nature of the offending must be at a very low level.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 1 later case that cites this judgment.
1 of the 1 citing case carries a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.