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A remorseless sex offender who traded child abuse material with his internet friends lied about being “set up” and remains “in denial” about the fact he is a criminal, a court has heard. Ernest Henry Yardley, 35, appeared in the ACT Supreme Court for a sentence hearing on Thursday, when Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson told him to “think very, very carefully” about his crimes. The Gilmore man previously pleaded guilty to five charges in an admission that he not only possessed more than 1400 child abuse files, but also transmitted or made available such material to 13 other people. Justice Loukas-Karlsson reluctantly viewed a selection of the material on Thursday in order to assess its depravity, commenting: “It’s an unavoidable part of what I must do.” “These are not victimless crimes,” the judge said after looking at images of children being sexually exploited. Barrister Beth Morrisroe, prosecuting for the Commonwealth, agreed and said the material contained “a high level of depravity”. Some of it included adults sexually penetrating children, and Ms Morrisroe said Yardley had shown “a complete lack of remorse and contrition” for his involvement with it. She drew particular attention to a message exchange in which one of Yardley’s online acquaintances asked if they were “bad people”, and the Gilmore man replied: “No we are just horny”. Ms Morrisroe also told the court it had been nearly two years since Yardley was arrested and charged, but there was no evidence he had done anything to rehabilitate himself in all that time. The court heard that despite Yardley’s guilty pleas, the 35-year-old had complained that he felt like he had been “picked on and set up”. Ms Morrisroe said a report prepared by forensic psychiatrist Dr Richard Furst also revealed that Yardley had lied about his phone being “hacked” and filled with objectionable material. Such comments were suggestive, she claimed, of Yardley’s continued “minimisation or denial” of his offending. “Nothing other than a sentence of full-time imprisonment is appropriate,” Ms Morrisroe said. Yardley’s Legal Aid lawyer, Chris Brown, conceded that his client would inevitably be sentenced to a jail term. He also accepted that Dr Furst’s evidence made clear that Yardley had known his behaviour was wrong. But Mr Brown said Yardley’s health was a highly relevant factor that may provide some level of mitigation. While acknowledging that Yardley had not shown remorse, Mr Brown said the 35-year-old was “not a man of high intellect” and it was harder for Yardley than the average person to express himself or feel empathy for others as a result of his autism. He said Yardley had been “very compliant with bail” and was willing to undertake any treatment deemed appropriate by the court. Yardley and the community would benefit, Mr Brown said, from some sort of “structured intervention” designed to teach the man how to “improve as a person”. “It’s a very embarrassing set of charges,” Mr Brown told the court. “Now that it’s out in the open … it’s something he will have to face up to.” Mr Brown also said Yardley was “very frightened about going to jail” because the nature of his offending, coupled with his mental and physical ailments, meant he would “have a very difficult time”. Justice Loukas-Karlsson told Yardley she would sentence him on January 25. “You must know by now that the courts view these offences with the utmost seriousness,” the judge said. “These are not victimless offences. They have victims. “Mr Yardley, think very, very carefully about what you have done.”
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A remorseless sex offender who traded child abuse material with his internet friends lied about being “set up” and remains “in denial” about the fact he is a criminal, a court has heard.
Ernest Henry Yardley, 35, appeared in the ACT Supreme Court for a sentence hearing on Thursday, when Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson told him to “think very, very carefully” about his crimes.
Justice Loukas-Karlsson reluctantly viewed a selection of the material on Thursday in order to assess its depravity, commenting: “It’s an unavoidable part of what I must do.”
“These are not victimless crimes,” the judge said after looking at images of children being sexually exploited.
Barrister Beth Morrisroe, prosecuting for the Commonwealth, agreed and said the material contained “a high level of depravity”.
Some of it included adults sexually penetrating children, and Ms Morrisroe said Yardley had shown “a complete lack of remorse and contrition” for his involvement with it.
She drew particular attention to a message exchange in which one of Yardley’s online acquaintances asked if they were “bad people”, and the Gilmore man replied: “No we are just horny”.
Ms Morrisroe also told the court it had been nearly two years since Yardley was arrested and charged, but there was no evidence he had done anything to rehabilitate himself in all that time.
The court heard that despite Yardley’s guilty pleas, the 35-year-old had complained that he felt like he had been “picked on and set up”.
Ms Morrisroe said a report prepared by forensic psychiatrist Dr Richard Furst also revealed that Yardley had lied about his phone being “hacked” and filled with objectionable material.
Such comments were suggestive, she claimed, of Yardley’s continued “minimisation or denial” of his offending.
“Nothing other than a sentence of full-time imprisonment is appropriate,” Ms Morrisroe said.
Yardley’s Legal Aid lawyer, Chris Brown, conceded that his client would inevitably be sentenced to a jail term.
He also accepted that Dr Furst’s evidence made clear that Yardley had known his behaviour was wrong.
But Mr Brown said Yardley’s health was a highly relevant factor that may provide some level of mitigation.
While acknowledging that Yardley had not shown remorse, Mr Brown said the 35-year-old was “not a man of high intellect” and it was harder for Yardley than the average person to express himself or feel empathy for others as a result of his autism.
He said Yardley had been “very compliant with bail” and was willing to undertake any treatment deemed appropriate by the court.
Yardley and the community would benefit, Mr Brown said, from some sort of “structured intervention” designed to teach the man how to “improve as a person”.
“It’s a very embarrassing set of charges,” Mr Brown told the court.
“Now that it’s out in the open … it’s something he will have to face up to.”
Mr Brown also said Yardley was “very frightened about going to jail” because the nature of his offending, coupled with his mental and physical ailments, meant he would “have a very difficult time”.
Justice Loukas-Karlsson told Yardley she would sentence him on January 25.
“You must know by now that the courts view these offences with the utmost seriousness,” the judge said.
“These are not victimless offences. They have victims.
“Mr Yardley, think very, very carefully about what you have done.”
