http://www.news.com.au/national-news/south-australia/no-jail-for-dialing-up-porn-in-telstra-shop/story-fndo4dzn-1226587698952
No jail for dialing-up child pornography on demo phones in Telstra shop
- Court Reporter Andrew Dowdell
- adelaidenow
- February 28, 2013 2:18PM
A MAN who used demonstration phones in a South Australian Telstra store to download child pornography – twice – has avoided an immediate prison term.
District Court judge David Lovell said staff at the Noarlunga store had noticed Michael John Stam acting suspiciously while looking at sample phones in December 2011
“You were in the store for approximately 30 minutes and during this time you were observed by shop staff to be acting suspiciously while looking at demonstration phones,” Judge Lovell said.
“It was obvious to the staff that you did not want any attention because you would turn away from them when they approached you. You also were observed to be attempting to hide the phone with your hand.”
When Stam left the shop, staff checked the phones and discovered he had entered Google searches such as “nude naked boys”.
“They further discovered that you downloaded images of young children particularly an image of a young boy splashing in water and an image of a young female posing in a provocative manner,” Judge Lovell said.
Stam, 38, returned to the store in February 2011 and was recognised by staff, who called police.
Police observed Stam accessing a black and white image of two young boys and arrested him.
A search of Stam’s home revealed another 18 images on mobile phones of nude children under the age of 14.
The offences breached an earlier good behaviour bond for offences involving abusive and sexual phone messages to his former employer and wife.
Judge Lovell said Stam had been diagnosed with listening and learning disabilities in school, where he was often bullied and teased.
He said Stam was on a disability support pension and have never been involved in a relationship.
“Although you admit what you did was inappropriate, you fail to understand why and this is of concern to the court,” Judge Lovell said.
“I have been told and accept that you are a vulnerable individual in the community and would even be more vulnerable in the prison environment. You would not cope well with the prison environment due to your lack of understanding of social behaviour.”
Judge Lovell sentenced Stam to six months’ prison but suspended the sentence on conditions including he undergo counselling and be of good behaviour for 12 months.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-12/porn-offender-lacked-awareness-court-told/4514544?section=sa
Porn offender lacked awareness, court told
By court reporter Candice Marcus
Posted Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:24pm AEDT
A court has been told a man lacked awareness why it was wrong to download child pornography and do so in a retail store.
In the Adelaide District Court, Michael John Stam, 38, of Christies Beach pleaded guilty to offences, including aggravated counts of accessing and possessing child pornography.
Prosecutors said Stam used a mobile phone in a Telstra shop to download the pornography, two years ago.
Judge David Lovell expressed concern psychological assessments indicated Stam lacked insight into his offending.
He feared the man might pose a community risk.
“I don’t think it’s a case where a short custodial sentence will teach him a lesson, so to speak, that’s the difficulty,” the judge said.
“The comforting thing for me and perhaps for the DPP is that, whilst he has been under supervision [on bail], there have been no allegations of further problems.”
Prosecutor Dominic Petraccaro agreed.
“Yes, it’s been two years and there has been no suggestion of him even attempting to access this sort of material again,” he said.
“In terms of accessing child pornography in the Telstra shop using their phone, he was always going to get caught.”
Stam’s lawyer Oliver Koehn said his client could be at risk in prison.
“He is a quite intellectually-disabled person who can mutter the right responses but when it comes down to it, doesn’t understand,” he told the court.
“He is going to be a very vulnerable person in the prison environment and will be exposed to bullying and harassment to a degree that other prisoners wouldn’t.
“This man is not completely unaware that what he did was wrong. What he is unaware of is why it is wrong.”
The prosecution said any bond would require Stam was supervised to ensure he was rehabilitated.
He will be sentenced in a fortnight.
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