Oz Prosecutor pleads guilty to child porn possession

The use of child pornography knows no boundaries of race, creed, intellect or position.

Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor Patrick Power took his computer hard drive for repair and a New South Wales State IT employee allegedly discovered an explicit video recording with pornographic footage of minors.

The IT employee reported finding the explicit material to his superiors and Power was summoned to the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions' office and, after a "brief discussion", suspended. This became public knowledge in July 2006.

Powers has indicated through his lawyer David Giddy that he will now plead guilty (and faces a 2 year jail sentence) to a single charge of possessing child pornography on his personal computer.

This plea now allows the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery to take action to remove Power, 54, from his $230,000-a- year job. The NSW Bar Association may also disbar him from his rank as senior counsel. NSW state Governor Marie Bashir may remove prosecutors for conduct including misbehaviour or conviction of a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment for 12 months or more.

Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson at Downing Centre Local Court yesterday continued Power's bail and adjourned the matter to April 24 for sentencing, and ordered a pre-sentence report.

The State will import a prosecutor, Jeremy Rapke a senior counsel from Victoria to prosecute.

Liberal candidate for the seat of Epping, Greg Smith, who was acting DPP when the allegations against Power were brought to his attention warned Power that child pornography had allegedly been found on his computer, before informing police.

Apparently Greg Smith had discussed this with the DPP before speaking to Powers.

A counterpoint to the case of Derek Williams, 46, of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, who received a suspended sentence from Judge John Rogers QC in Mold Court, North Wales yesterday because the UK prisons have insufficient room for perpetrators of similiar crimes.(BBC)

Simply searching in Google news on "kiddie porn" or "child porn" (over 100 reports worldwide in English datelined 22/23/24/25 th Jan) discloses an international epidemic of similiar cases. e.g a Police officer (now resigned) from Lancashire Police who pleaded guilty to possession of images and repeatedly viewing and deleting images for 11 months. He was put on the Sex Offenders Register for five years and sentenced to 2 months supervision, during which he must attend the Internet Sex Offenders Treatment Programme and was ordered to pay £100 costs. Lancashire Evening Post 23/1/07 "Child porn policeman avoids jail"