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<\/p>\nDisgraced Australian author Craig Silvey has been jailed for seven months for possessing and distributing child exploitation material, with a Perth judge condemning his “repulsive” actions.<\/p>\n
WARNING: The following story contains details some readers may find distressing.<\/p>\n
The WA District Court heard confronting details of Silvey’s offending for the first time, including how he shared graphic photographs of adults sexually abusing children after connecting with a fellow user of an adult pornography website.<\/p>\n
Silvey, 44, had pleaded guilty to charges of distributing and possessing child exploitation material earlier this year, and was sentenced on Monday.<\/p>\n
Judge Hayley Cormann said the material Silvey had possessed and his communications about it were “repulsive” and “degrading”.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Daniel Harrop said Silvey was on an adult pornography website in January when he began messaging another user on a separate platform where videos and images could be shared.<\/p>\n
Explicit material<\/p>\n
The court heard Silvey described himself as “extremely open minded” and “obsessed with taboos”.<\/p>\n
He said he liked children aged “five plus” and eight was the “perfect age”.<\/p>\n
Silvey sent an explicit image of an adult male with a prepubescent child, which police found after executing a search warrant at his Fremantle home and inspecting his phone and laptop.<\/p>\n
Further images and videos were found of adults sexually abusing children, with five videos and two images found on his laptop, and five images on his phone.<\/p>\n
Silvey sat in the dock and looked down for much of the hearing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Child exploitation material was found on Craig Silvey’s devices. (ABC News: David Weber)<\/p>\n
Judge Cormann revealed that the user he was communicating with online was “fictitious”.<\/p>\n
She accepted Silvey was “appalled” and “mortified” by his own conduct, was at a low risk of reoffending and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.<\/p>\n
Judge Cormann said Silvey had sought to explain his criminal behaviour as a type of “role play”.<\/p>\n
She accepted he had experienced a “challenging time in recent years” financially, and after a relationship breakdown with his brother.<\/p>\n
No reaction<\/p>\n
Judge Cormann said the victims of his offending were real people who were “re-victimised” every time a video or image was sent to someone.<\/p>\n
She sentenced him to seven months’ jail, far less than the maximum sentence of 10 years for distribution of the images and seven years for possession.<\/p>\n
Silvey displayed no emotion as the sentence was delivered.<\/p>\n
None of Silvey’s family or friends were present for his sentencing.<\/p>\n
Author once beloved<\/p>\n
Silvey was one of Australia’s most commercially successful and critically acclaimed authors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His 2009 book Jasper Jones sold more than 600,000 copies worldwide and was made into a feature film.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Craig Silvey sold hundreds of thousands of books before his arrest over child exploitaiton material. (ABC News: Cason Ho)<\/p>\n
A 2020 book, Honeybee, was another best seller while his 2022 children’s novel Runt was also adapted into a feature film.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His debut novel Rhubarb and Jasper Jones were both studied in high school English courses.\u00a0<\/p>\n