An Australian Federal Police officer has failed to convince a court he shouldn't have been jailed for accessing child pornography because most of the images were cartoons.
Gregory Paul Edwards' offending came to light when he submitted an AFP internal integrity report in January 2017, saying he had accidentally viewed explicit material while in a public chat room.
However, an analysis of his computer found he had also used the internet to access child pornography 31 times over a four-month period earlier that year.
He pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to access child pornography in the Brisbane District Court late last year, and was ordered to serve two months of a 15-month jail term.
Edwards took his case to the Court of Appeal, arguing he shouldn't have served actual jail time because most of the images were graphic representations or cartoons of children.
His lawyer argued the material was a "victimless crime" because no children were used in depicting them.
However, the Court of Appeal on Tuesday rejected this argument, saying the cartoons still normalise exploitative behaviour and fuel the demand for such material.
The court also noted that 33 images and videos viewed by Edwards involved real children being abused.
"The sentence imposed on the applicant cannot be demonstrated to be manifestly excessive," Justice Philip Morrison wrote in his judgment.
Australian Associated Press
