Phoebe Robertson was caught with more than 400 videos containing child exploitation material. Photo / 123rf
Warning: This story deals with details of the sexual assault of children and may be distressing.
An early childhood relief teacher who told police she has “a serious addiction to disgusting things” has been sentenced to home detention after being caught with more than 400 videos containing child exploitation material.
Phoebe Robertson was working as a reliever and untrained teacher at a Bay of Plenty childcare centre when her “addiction” was discovered by police.
The 22-year-old appeared in the Tauranga District Court for sentencing today.
Judge Stephen Coyle read out detailed and graphic descriptions of some of the sexual videos, and was particularly concerned with the number that involved bestiality and very young children, including infants being abused by adults and with sex toys.
The judge said Robertson had described the content to a report writer as “grossly beautiful”, which was concerning in and of itself.
However, the judge also emphasised there was no suggestion that any of the images she possessed involved children she knew or had contact with through her work, or that any of the children she worked with had been at risk from her.
He suppressed the name and the location of the childcare centre.
Robertson had 298 videos classed as the most serious type of material, some involving toddlers and infants, and some showing sexual acts between animals and children.
Her lawyer, David Pawson, sought a starting point of three and a half years’ imprisonment, with a discount of 20% for background factors.
He said it seemed Robertson had suffered from bullying and learning difficulties.
In his 30 years of practising criminal law, he’d never seen a case this unusual.
It was not clear why she had accessed such material, but he suspected it may have been “more about attention and sense of belonging” than anything else.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Richard Van Arendonk said police wanted Robertson put on the Child Sex Offender Register.
While acknowledging she was seeking treatment, Van Arendonk said “these fascinations are not going to disappear overnight”.
He noted the police’s focus was on keeping the public safe and keeping a “watchful” eye on Robertson.
He referred to comments she made to a pre-sentence report writer in which she admitted that, if she got access to a computer, she would probably try to look at more such material online.
He said that, when police were contacted by the FBI about the young woman’s actions, it was like “Def-Con 4″, as it seemed her actions were about to go from being merely an “online voyeur” to a “preparatory stage” for further offending.
However, the judge said that, when considering sentencing, he could look only at the charges before him.
A psychiatrist’s report said Robertson did not appear to have cravings for child exploitation material, but the judge noted that was at odds with her comments to the report writer about the material being “grossly beautiful”.
Judge Coyle considered the categories of the content, the harm to the victims, and the length of Robertson’s offending, which spanned just over three years.
He also noted that her files were predominantly videos, not still images.
He adopted a starting point of four years and nine months’ imprisonment.
He gave Robertson a 25% discount for her guilty plea and a further 25% for her youth, cognitive issues and mental health.
Pawson asked for a discount for her willingness for rehabilitation, and the efforts she had made in that area already.
For that, the judge gave a further 10%, but noted the concerning comments she made to the pre-sentence report writer.
Her discounts totalled 60%, and the judge noted that, if she had been arrested after the recent law change, this level of discount would not have been available.
He reached an end sentence of 23 months’ imprisonment, but commuted this to 11 months’ home detention.
She was banned from accessing an internet-capable device and warned that, if she managed to do so, she would likely be sent to prison.
The judge did not order her to be put on the Child Sex Offenders Register, but ordered the destruction of her devices.
Pawson sought permanent name suppression due to extreme hardship both to her and her family. The judge declined that application.
Robertson’s offending came to light after an FBI investigation in Arkansas targeted a person with whom she was in contact over the encrypted social media apps Telegram and Wire.
While having conversations on these apps, the pair exchanged child sexual abuse material.
Robertson was arrested in October last year while she was at work at the Bay of Plenty childcare centre.
Six electronic devices were seized in a search of her home.
Multiple videos and images were on two iPhones. The material had been accessed through Telegram, Wire, Wickr Me and Kik.
The material ranged from pre-pubescent children engaging in sexual acts with each other and performing acts on adults, to toddlers and infants being subjected to sexual offending by adults.
There was also material that involved sadism, torture and humiliation of infants, toddlers and adult women.
Robertson pleaded guilty in February to four representative charges of possessing objectionable material involving child exploitation.
Police discovered a total of 602 sexual videos on her devices, of which 390 were examined and deemed objectionable.
There were 298 classified as “category A”, which court documents said could involve either penetrative sexual activity, penetrative sexual activity with animals, or sadism.
There were 95 objectionable images found on her devices, of which 52 were deemed category A.
Category B is for non-penetrative sexual activity, and category C is for “indecent images” not included in the first two classifications.
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.