(AUSTRALIA)
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - ABC [Sydney, Australia]
February 16, 2024
By Rachael Merritt
- In short: Justen Shawn Orford, 49, has been sentenced after pleading guilty to 15 child exploitation charges.
- The Townsville District Court heard Orford had photographed students to make exploitation content.
- What’s next? Orford will be released from prison in July after serving four months.
A North Queensland court has heard a primary school principal with a 30-year career in children’s education photographed unknowing students to make child exploitation material.
Justen Shawn Orford, 49, was stood down from St Joseph’s Catholic School in Townsville and arrested in July 2021 after parents and teachers raised concerns about his conduct.
He was charged with 14 offences including making and possessing child exploitation material and using a carriage service to access child abuse material.
Orford pleaded guilty to all counts in September last year.
Students photographed
During sentencing in the Townsville District Court on Friday, Orford pleaded guilty to an additional charge of possessing property that contained child exploitation material, including a mobile phone, camera, electronic tablets and external storage devices.
The court heard 13 pornographic images were found across six electronic devices which were seized by police during a search of Orford’s school office and Kirwan home.
Crown prosecutor Nicole Butler said the images depicted a female student at the St Joseph’s swimming carnival wearing bathers that had been pulled up around her genitals.
Another image taken by Orford showed a child in a see-though T-shirt which “clearly depicted” her breasts.
“Two further images were taken of the child indicating she seemed to be unaware the photographs of her were being taken,” Ms Butler said.
In another instance, a 10-year-old female student was photographed in the school playground.
“They [the photos] were … taken from a ground angle directed towards the genitals of the child,” Ms Butler said.
Orford’s internet browser history uncovered nearly 8,000 searches for photos and videos using terms such as “young teen sex”, “bare chest teen female” and “young virgins”.
The court heard Orford accessed online exploitation stories depicting incest and rape of teenage girls.
‘Very serious’ offending
Defence lawyer Claire Grant said of the 13 photos found by police, only five were “unique”, meaning the additional images were edited, filtered, cropped and re-produced from the originals.
Ms Grant said while the images showed a “clear sexual intent”, several images uncovered on the devices showed students involved in routine school activities which she argued were not classed as child exploitation material.
“The images that the defendant pleads guilty to are not images of the most concerning kind,” Ms Grant said.
“They do not involve nudity of the children on any occasion.”
She said the children were not aware the photos had been taken, which had spared further trauma for the school community.
Judge John Coker acknowledged the “very serious” nature of the offending.
“The accessing of such material, the use of such material … all feeds the continued abuse of children not only in Australia but throughout the world,” Judge Coker said.
He read to the court a statement made by Orford during a psychological examination.
“I regret the choices I made. I’m sorry for the impact I’ve had on students past and present. I’ve let a lot of people down,” Orford said.
Judge Coker said he took into account Orford’s early guilty plea, lack of criminal history and sexual offending rehabilitation.
Orford was sentenced to 18 months in prison to be suspended after four months with an operational period of two years.
He is due to be released on July 16.