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District Court 1 August 2025

R v Huynh

[2025] NSWDC 283

Sexual offences
CRIME — SENTENCE SENTENCE BESTIALITY MATERIAL

Citation: R v Huynh [2025] NSWDC 283
Court: District Court of New South Wales
Date: 1 August 2025
Judge(s): Newlinds SC DCJ

Background

The offender used two social media messaging applications, Zalo and Facebook Messenger, to transmit and access child abuse material in chats with nine other users between March 2023 and January 2024. On 1 January 2024, he arrived at Sydney International Airport from Vietnam and self-declared to Australian Border Force that he had child abuse material on his phone. A subsequent search of his device confirmed this, and also revealed 33 images and videos constituting bestiality material.

The offender pleaded guilty to three offences: transmitting and accessing child abuse material using a carriage service (a Commonwealth offence), possessing child abuse material in a data storage device obtained via a carriage service (also a Commonwealth offence), and possessing bestiality material (a New South Wales offence). The maximum penalties for the Commonwealth offences were 15 years' imprisonment each; the State offence carried a maximum of 3 years.

The offender had spent one day in pre-sentence custody referable to these offences.

  • What aggregate sentence was appropriate for the two Commonwealth child abuse material offences, having regard to the statutory presumption of full-time imprisonment absent exceptional circumstances?
  • What weight should be given to the early guilty plea, the offender's self-declaration to border authorities, and other subjective factors?
  • How should the bestiality offence be treated, given the absence of any established sentencing range for such conduct and the separate legislative regime applying to State offences?
  • How should the sentences for Commonwealth and State offences be structured and accumulated, consistently with the principle against double punishment established in Pearce v The Queen?

Decision

Newlinds SC DCJ assessed the objective seriousness of the child abuse material offending as extremely high. The material involved very young children, including infants, subjected to severe physical abuse. The court noted that such offending is not victimless: real children are abused to supply a market, and the online dissemination of that material compounds the harm. The quantity of material was described as relatively small following amendments to the agreed facts during the hearing.

On the Commonwealth offences, the court applied the presumption under the relevant Commonwealth sentencing framework that full-time imprisonment is required absent exceptional circumstances. General deterrence, specific deterrence, denunciation, punishment, and community protection were all identified as significant considerations. The court applied a 25% discount to reflect the early guilty plea and treated the offender's self-declaration at the border as a relevant mitigating factor. An aggregate sentence of three years' imprisonment was imposed for the two Commonwealth counts, with release on a Recognizance Release Order after 12 months subject to supervision conditions.

On the bestiality offence, the court followed the approach in Chesworth v R [2023] NSWCCA 115, which observed that bestiality offences involve different criteria from offences against humans and that general deterrence and denunciation are prominent considerations. The court also noted, consistent with Chesworth, that no established sentencing range exists for bestiality cases. Despite treating the offence as serious, the court concluded that it did not warrant full-time custody when considered in isolation, and imposed a conviction without further penalty under section 10A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW).

Orders Made

  • Commonwealth offences (Sequences 2 and 3): Aggregate term of three years' imprisonment, commencing 31 July 2025 and expiring 30 July 2028, after a 25% reduction for early guilty pleas.
  • Recognizance Release Order: After serving 12 months in custody, the offender is to be released on 30 July 2026 on a Recognizance Release Order (in the sum of $100) for 16 months, expiring 29 November 2027, on conditions including: good behaviour; reporting to City Community Corrections within 7 days of release; supervision by a probation officer; compliance with all reasonable directions; submission to any directed treatment plan; and no interstate or overseas travel without written permission from the probation officer.
  • State offence (Sequence 9): Conviction recorded under section 10A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) with no further penalty imposed.
  • Forfeiture: Two mobile devices (Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra) forfeited to the Commonwealth pursuant to section 23ZD of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), on application by the Commonwealth DPP.
  • Sentence backdated by one day to account for pre-sentence custody.

Key Takeaways

  • Under the Commonwealth sentencing framework for child abuse material offences, a presumption of full-time imprisonment applies unless the sentencing court finds exceptional circumstances, materially raising the bar compared with general sentencing principles.
  • An early guilty plea attracted a 25% discount, and self-declaration of the material to border authorities was treated as a relevant mitigating factor, though neither displaced the presumption of full-time custody.
  • The District Court confirmed, consistent with Chesworth v R, that no established sentencing range exists for bestiality offences in New South Wales, and that the criteria for assessing objective seriousness differ from those applicable to offences against humans.
  • Possession, transmission, and accessing of child abuse material are not treated as victimless: the court reaffirmed the established principle that such conduct sustains a market that perpetuates the abuse of real children, and that dissemination via the internet compounds the harm to those children.
  • Where Commonwealth and State offences are sentenced together, separate sentencing regimes apply to each, and the court must guard against double punishment in structuring accumulation, consistent with Pearce v The Queen (1998) 194 CLR 610.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation

  • Criminal Code (Cth), ss 474.22(1), 474.22A(1)
  • Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), ss 16A, 20(1)(b), 23ZD
  • Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 547E(2)
  • Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 3A, 5, 10A, 21A

Cases