Use of Carriage Service for Child Pornography Material

Our expert criminal lawyers for the use of carriage services for child pornography material offences can help you:

• Obtain bail.
• Be found not guilty.
• Receive a lenient sentence, like no conviction and no prison.

You will be represented by a team of award-winning criminal lawyers, with 500+ five-star Google reviews, who offer fixed fees and free first consultations.

You can read our reviews here.

Use of carriage service for child pornography material 

Proving child pornography offences is not easy for the police. There are defences available where you have removed the images from your computer and the police have only located them buried deep in a hard drive. The police must also prove it was you who accessed the images as opposed to another person who had access to the computer. 

If the police can prove their case against you and you are to be sentenced, we use psychologists, psychiatrists, and barristers to prepare your case and get you the most lenient sentence possible.  

What is “Use of a Carriage Service for Child Abuse Material? 

A person is guilty of this offence if:  

• The person: 
  • accesses material; or 
  • causes material to be transmitted to himself or herself; or 
  • transmits, makes available, publishes, distributes, advertises or promotes material; or 
• Solicits material; and
• The person does so using a carriage service; and 
• The material is child pornography material. 

A carriage service means any communications through your phone, for example, text messages, phone calls, voice messages or social media posts. 

What is Child Pornography Material? 

Child abused material is described as:

• Material that depicts or describes, in a way that reasonable persons would regard as being, in all the circumstances, offensive— 
  •   a person who is, appears to be or is implied to be, a child as a victim of torture, cruelty or physical abuse, or 
  •  a person who is, appears to be or is implied to be, a child engaged in or apparently engaged in a sexual pose or sexual activity (whether or not in the presence of other persons), or
  •  a person who is, appears to be or is implied to be, a child in the presence of another person who is engaged or apparently engaged in a sexual pose or sexual activity, or
  • the private parts of a person who is, appears to be or is implied to be, a child. 
•  The matters to be taken into account in deciding whether reasonable persons would regard particular material as being, in all the circumstances, offensive, include—
  • the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults, and
  • the literary, artistic or educational merit (if any) of the material, and
  •  the journalistic merit (if any) of the material, being the merit of the material as a record or report of a matter of public interest, and
  • the general character of the material (including whether it is of a medical, legal or scientific character). 
• Material that depicts a person or the private parts of a person includes material that depicts a representation of a person or the private parts of a person (including material that has been altered or manipulated to make a person appear to be a child or to otherwise create a depiction referred to in subsection (1)).
•  The private parts of a person are—
  • a person’s genital area or anal area, whether bare or covered by underwear, or;
  • the breasts of a female person, or transgender or intersex person identifying as female, whether or not the breasts are sexually developed. 

A ‘child’ means a person under the age of 16 years. 

Pleading not guilty

If you have been charged with using a carriage service for child abuse material, the onus is on the prosecution to prove that the accused; 

• accessed material; or 
• caused material to be transmitted to themselves; or 
• transmitted, made available, published, distributed, advertised or promoted material; or 
• solicited material; and 
• used a carriage service; and 
• the material was child abuse material; and 
• they engaged in the conduct voluntarily. 

If they can’t do this, then the accused will not be found guilty of this child pornography charge. 

You can read more information about pleading not guilty here.

Defences for the charge of using a carriage service for child abuse material include:

• You did not know or could not reasonably be expected to have known that you committed the offence.
• If you can establish that the child pornography material came into your possession unsolicited and as soon as you became aware of it, you took reasonable steps to get rid of it.
• Your conduct was of public benefit in enforcing or administering the law, monitoring compliance with the law or the administration of justice and did not extend beyond what was of public benefit. 
• You are a law enforcement officer acting in the course of your duties and your conduct was reasonable in the circumstances. 
• That the material was classified under the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995, other than as refused classification. 
• You were conducting research approved in writing by the Attorney General that requires you to deal with child abuse material.   

Pleading guilty 

If you agree that you have committed the offence and the police can prove it, it is best to plead guilty. You will normally receive a discount on your sentence, and it will demonstrate remorse and contrition. Our experienced solicitors can negotiate with prosecutors to have you plead guilty to less serious facts, or even to a less serious charge. 

When someone is sentenced for Use of carriage service for child pornography material, a court will consider the number of images, the circumstances in which they were obtained and where the images fall on a scale used to grade the depravity of the images (the more depraved the depiction, the higher the gravity of the offence because the child in them has suffered greater harm). 

The offence of Use of carriage service for child pornography material carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment. This penalty is typically reserved for the worst offenders. Use of a carriage service for child pornography material is an extremely serious offence.

If you are charged with Use of a carriage service for child pornography material, you should contact our office immediately. 

Our criminal lawyers are known for their ability to get non-convictions, meaning no criminal record, for guilty pleas.  

Do I need references?

We believe references are an extremely important part of a plea of guilty in court. Read about court processes and how to write a good character reference.

Contact Australian Criminal Law Group

Our criminal lawyers, with 500+ five-star Google reviews, can beat your use of carriage service for child pornography material charge or obtain a lenient sentence for you if you plead guilty.

Call us on (02) 8815 8167 for your free first conference or submit a website enquiry.

Case Studies 

Good behaviour bond received 

Our client was charged with use carriage service for child pornography and possess child pornography. Our lawyer argued that whilst child pornography was on his computer it had been downloaded inadvertently with a bulk amount of adult porn. We argued that our client had so much adult pornography that he had negligently failed to delete the child pornography. He had downloaded by mistake. The Magistrate accepted that whilst our client failed in his duty to remove the child pornography it could not be proven he received sexual gratification from it. The magistrate held whilst normally these offences required a jail sentence the peculiar facts in this case meant he could deal with it by a good behaviour bond.

No jail time

Our lawyer represented a client charged with using a carriage service to access child abuse material. Police located some 800 photos and 200 videos. He was trying to access age appropriate pornography. Despite being relentlessly argued by the defence the judge found in our client’s favour and did not sentence him to imprisonment.

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Australian Criminal Law Group and its clients make every reasonable effort to ensure the accuracy and validity of the information provided on its web pages. However, given the laws in NSW and Australia are continually changing, Australian Criminal Law Group make no warranties or representations as to its accuracy.