Warning: this story contains details that some readers may find distressing.
Disgraced Australian author Craig Silvey has been sentenced to seven months jail after a court heard he had betrayed thousands of people when he engaged in anonymous online accounts, claiming he “loves” incestuous child pornography and the “perfect age” of a child was eight-years-old.
Silvey, 44, appeared in WA’s District Court on Monday for sentencing on two charges of possessing and distributing child exploitation material.
Judge Karen Shepherd sentenced him to seven months jail, backdated to October 22 when he first went into custody.
“In your possession and distribution of those images, you have contributed to the physical harm and the trauma that is being suffered by those children in those videos and in those pictures,” she said.
“You acknowledge you have devastated and betrayed the trust of thousands of people, and you’ve let entire communities down.”
During sentencing, the court heard Silvey had maintained a profile on a fetish and pornography website before his arrest, and messaged one anonymous profile in January this year.
“Fremantle guy here,” he said. “You sound absolutely amazing and gorgeous too… would love to chat more.”
He asked the user to move to an encrypted text messaging service called Session, where he told them he was extremely “open-minded and non-judgmental”.
He shared one image of child pornography in the chat, and spoke to the user – telling them while he didn’t own the image, he was “drooling”.
Over the next few days they continued to speak.
“I love love love love mums being intimate with little boys, I think it’s the sexiest and most beautiful thing in the world,” Silvey wrote.
“To answer your question I would range [age] five plus.
“I had a great collection [of material] and then I panicked and deleted it and regret it every day.”
He went on to say a child aged eight was “the perfect age”, and he would ask other users for child exploitation material.
Prosecutor Daniel Harrop said Silvey had the chats open on his computer when the police executed a search warrant at the Fremantle property this year.
He then refused to provide access to his devices to detectives.
Judge Shepherd said his offending had been “extremely serious and extremely disturbing”.
She said she ultimately accepted Silvey had a sexual interest in children.
“The material you possessed [and the chat logs] they are repulsive, they are degrading and they are offensive,” Shepherd said.
“Your communication was open, it was assertive and it was unmistakable.
“You did this as a means to engage others and sexually satisfy yourself and to sexually satisfy the person with which you were discussing.“
Silvey’s defence lawyer Eloise Barker previously argued he was interested in child exploitation material rather than children themselves.
She told the court his actions had amounted to “emotional suicide”.
“He was looking for the most depraved material,” Barker said.
“He expressed he had a feeling of emptiness and emotional numbness after the offending… [which provided him] temporary relief from psychological agitation.“
Barker said Silvey had been punished due to the ongoing media scrutiny on his case, which had led to his former partner moving interstate in order to protect their children.
“Mr Silvey has lost his publication contracts, his books and films have been removed from bookstores, schools and streaming services,” she said.
“He remains fearful of what will happen beyond these proceedings.“
Barker said the punishment went well beyond what would usually be expected, and a report from Silvey’s psychologist said he was at a low-risk of reoffending, and he had expressed genuine remorse and insight into the offending.
However, Harrop rejected the psychological report and said it read more as a character reference than a court report on Silvey’s mental health.
He said the psychologist had offered heavily discounted sessions and had not read the chat logs, which contained most of the material that indicated Silvey was “particularly” sexually interested in young boys and often initiated conversation.
Harrop said Silvey’s offending had clearly had an impact on the community who engaged with his work.
“It is a great betrayal for many children who idolised Mr Silvey’s books,” he said.
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