Jail term for child porn man

A TOOWOOMBA man with a predilection for accessing child pornography when high on meth has been spared jail time because of “exceptional circumstances”.

Damian Grayson Carr had been jailed by the Mackay District Court for two and half years in 2014 after pleading guilty to possessing more than 22,800 images of child exploitation material.

Because he remained a reportable offender for 15 years after that conviction, police regularly went to his Toowoomba home to check he was complying with his reporting obligations.

That included checking any device for like material, Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told Toowoomba District Court on Monday.

It was during a check of his mobile phone on May 30 last year that 143 images of child exploitation material were found, she said.

Carr, 41, pleaded guilty. His barrister Frank Martin told the court his client had drug induced psychosis, depression and other mental health issues and would be vulnerable in jail.

This offending had taken place over just two days when his client was under the influence of meth, he said.

Carr wanted to get off the drug and was now on the suboxone program to help rid him of the urge to use drugs, Mr Martin submitted.

The images found on this occasion were far less than what he was found with in Mackay in 2014, he said.

Chief Judge Brian Devereaux SC said by accessing the material Carr was supporting “this appalling industry”.

However, Judge Devereaux found there were exceptional circumstances in Carr’s case and that the community would not be served by jailing him.

Carr was sentenced to 15 months in jail, wholly suspended for 12 months.