Simon Joseph Brennan was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment with an eight month non-parole period in Griffith Local Court in November last year by Magistrate Joy Boulos.

Brennan had his sentence reduced by three months with his non-parole period expiring February 4, after the successful appeal heard by Judge Michael Bozic.

The charges relate to the discovery of child abuse material on Brennan’s work computer in April 2018. Of concern were 103 pictures and seven videos classified as child abuse material, found among a total of 7874 pornographic images.

Brennan plead guilty to the possession of the images on September 26, and was convicted and sentenced by Magistrate Boulos two days later.

According to police evidence, when Brennan was approached by colleagues in regards to the images found on his computer, he allegedly said “I know about it, it’s mine, I’m in the (expletive) now.”

Later in June during an interview with the police, he said he “couldn’t answer” questions relating to the images on the computer, the downloading of images, or the existence any other images or files on the computer.

He told police “I really want to open my heart, but legally I can’t.”

Judge Bozic made no argument to the seriousness of the charges, however said the original sentencing was “excessive”.

He said the courts took cases with child abuse material very seriously.

“The possession of child porn is not a victimless crime… a child is being sexually abused to supply the market,” Judge Bozic said.

In reducing his sentence, Judge Bozic took a number of considerations into account.

These included a Sentencing Assessment Report which described Brennan as having a “below average risk of sexual recidivism,” as well as detailing reports of mental health issues and his ongoing treatment for them.

Judge Bozic also referred to five references given to the court detailing Brennan’s character, good prospects of rehabilitation, ability to make valuable contributions to society and his sincere remorse, embarrassment and shame for his actions.

He said while the number of images was “not insignificant”, there were cases which involved a greater amount of material than this case.

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