Former NSW Police Sergeant sentenced to 4 months in prison for child sexual abuse images

A former NSW Police Sergeant who has access to nearly 5,000 child sexual abuse images will spend at least four months in prison.

Michael Anthony Mannah was arrested in January 2021 after his iPhone and home internet service activity was intercepted under a warrant.

Last September, a jury found a 50-year-old boy guilty of using a vehicle service to access child abuse material in connection with a period of more than five months leading up to his arrest. .

He was acquitted of charges of possessing or controlling child abuse material.

The District Court of New South Wales ruled that the majority of the approximately 5,000 images Manna accessed did not depict sexual activity, and that persons under the age of 18 posed nude or in bathing suits in sexually suggestive poses. I made a hearing that it was taken.

The court was told that about 300 files were cartoons, anime, or computer-generated images.

Judge Ian Bourke today acknowledged that Mannah’s search for the material was for personal use, not for sale or distribution to others, and he took no steps to preserve the images.

However, the judge said in his ruling that the crime occurred over a “considerable period of time” and that this type of crime is not “victimless”. This is because real children are abused in the process of creating content and remain online for long periods of time.

Mannah denied any sexual interest in children, but the intercepted internet activity showed that users “consistently” returned to many websites, rather than “accidentally visiting one page.” The jury found that it suggested that

Judge Bourke did not accept Mannah’s denial, saying there was no evidence of remorse or remorse, but concluded that the images were not a “primary target” of his Internet searches.

“This kind of crime feeds a market for child exploitation,” the judge said.

Mannah was sentenced to a total of 12 months, but is expected to spend four of those months in custody under a conditional release order.

The prison the judge accepted would be more of a burden for Manna, as she is a former police officer who has affected his wife and two children.

He admitted Manna has a ‘pretty positive’ outlook for rehab

Mannah’s indictment was the result of an investigation by the Law Enforcement Action Commission, which referred a summary of the evidence to the Director of the Federal Attorney’s Office.

He faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.