THE KING v AMBROSE KEVIN McDONALD 28 AUGUST 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE CUTHBERTSON J
Ambrose Kevin McDonald, you have pleaded guilty to 15 Commonwealth crimes. I am also dealing with your pleas of guilty to two State offences pursuant to s 385A of the Criminal Code as they arise from the same course of conduct. The Commonwealth crimes are two counts of possess or control child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service contrary to s 474.22A(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth), 12 counts of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material, and one count of using a carriage service to access child abuse material both of which are offences contrary to s 474.22(1) of the Cth Criminal Code. The State offences are both charges of possessing bestiality products contrary to s 74(b) of the Classification (Publications, Films and computer games) Enforcement Act 1995.
On 21 March 2025, members of the Australian Federal Police and Tasmania Police conducted a search at your home pursuant to a search warrant. You had been identified by the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation Child Protection Triage Unit as a person responsible for uploading child abuse material. You were present during the search. A laptop, microserver and mobile phone were located and seized by police. You voluntarily provided the passwords and information required to access these digital devices. A manual triage of the laptop revealed that multiple files, with file names suggesting that they constituted child abuse material, had recently been played on the device. Manual triage of your mobile phone revealed child abuse and bestiality material on the device. The social media applications on your phone were also analysed and revealed that you had been participating in online chats with other users across a number of applications using the user name “Tazmanian Daddy”. Those chats related to the sexual abuse of children. They also indicated you were trading material. In some cases, you traded child abuse material in exchange for receiving child abuse material. In other instances, you sent child abuse material apparently in return for explicit images or videos of the adult recipient.
The child abuse material located on the device was categorised as follows:
Category 1 Interpol baseline – depicting real pre-pubescent children involved in a sexual act, witnessing a sexual act or focused or concentrated on the child’s anal or genital region; and Category 2, which includes:
- descriptions of any real child from birth to under 18 years of age who is, or appears to be, a victim of torture, cruelty or physical abuse;
- depictions of real post-pubescent children involved with, or witnessing, a sexual act, or the material is focused on their anal or genital region or breasts;
- depictions of pre-pubescent children engaged in a sexual pose in a way that reasonable persons would regard as being offensive;
- descriptions in the form of audio, text, written chat or stories of any child under the age of 18 years who is, or is implied to be, engaged in sexual activity or posing, who is, or is implied to be, in the presence of a person engaged in that activity; and
- anime, cartoons or photoshopped material depicting a child from birth to under 18 years of age engaged in, or implied to be engaged in, sexual activity, or the material is focused on the child’s anal area, genitals or breasts, in a way that a reasonable person would regard as being offensive.
Count one, a charge of possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service, relates to your possession on 21 March 2025 of 34 Category 1 images, 116 Category 1 videos, 17 Category 2 images, and two Category 2 videos on your microserver. This material was downloaded and stored locally on the device between 12 April 2013 to 8 November 2024. Count two is a further charge of possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service, which relates to your possession on that same day of three Category 2 images and four Category 1 videos on your mobile phone. This material was downloaded and stored locally on the device between 16 December 2023 and 15 March 2025. The Category 2 images found on the phone were anime, however, depict penetrative sexual activity or implied penetrative sexual activity involving young children.
The 12 charges of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material and the charge of using a carriage service to access child abuse material, relate to your involvement in online communications with 12 other individuals over the encrypted messaging applications Wire, Zangi and Telegard using the screen name “Tazmanian Daddy”. This group of offences occurred in the period between 21 November 2024 and 18 February 2025.
Count three is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire between 21 November 2024 and 12 March 2025 with another user. On 23 November 2024, you sent a single Category 1 child abuse material video to that user, apparently unprompted. It depicted an adult female and pubescent female engaged in sexual activity. During the associated chat, you asked the other user whether they had children. When they responded they did, you asked whether they had ever touched them. The children you were discussing were stated to be 10 and 7 year old girls.
Count four is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire between 2 and 6 December 2024 with another user. During those communications, you transmitted 14 separate Category 1 child abuse material videos to that user.
Count five is a charge of using a carriage service to access child abuse material. This relates to your communications with the same person the subject of count four. In that same period, you accessed 14 Category 1 child abuse material video files and three Category 2 child abuse material files, that had been sent to you by the other user. During the course of your chat with that user, you indicated that you loved the content of one of the videos, and that you “kind of like it looks like she isn’t enjoying it”.
Count six is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire between 3 and 5 December 2024 with another user. On 3 December 2024, you transmitted ten separate Category 1 child abuse material videos to the other user. During the course of the conversation related to these videos, the other user asked whether you had “kids on kids” to which you responded “yeah”.
Count seven is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire on 8 December 2024 with another user. During those communications, you transmitted ten separate Category 1 child abuse material videos to the other person.
Count eight is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Zangi between 8 and 16 December 2024 with another user. In the period between 8 and 10 December 2024, you transmitted six separate Category 1 child abuse material videos to the other user. The videos were lengthy and included one that was 19 minutes long and depicted a naked, pre-pubescent female child tied with rope. She was the subject of adult penile child oral penetration, adult digital child vaginal penetration and oral penetration with the penis of a dog.
Count nine is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire between 18 and 19 December 2024 with another user. During those communications, you transmitted six separate Category 1 child abuse material videos to the other person.
Count ten is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Telegard between 26 December 2024 and 1 March 2025 with another user. On the first day of those communications, 26 December 2024, you transmitted two separate Category 1 child abuse material videos to the other user. During the associated conversation you said you had “only collected girls really”.
Count 11 is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire between 17 January and 7 February 2025 with another user. On 19 January 2025, you transmitted a Category 1 child abuse material video to the other user. The video depicted a peri-pubescent female involved in sexual acts with a dog. During the associated conversation with the user, the two of you discussed the content of the video in graphic detail. The discussion is highly depraved. In particular, you detailed sexual scenarios between children and animals. You also stated in response to the other user outlining their experience of having sex with 15 years olds when they were 19 years, “That’s pretty hot. I haven’t done it but I’d love a younger girl”. This was later followed by you stating that “I think about 10 is so cute”.
Count 12 is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire between 23 January and 1 February 2025 with another user. During those communications, you transmitted 15 separate Category 1 child abuse material videos to the other person. You discussed the young age of the subject children in those videos, and also whether the Telegram app was safe to use to download material.
Count 13 is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire between 28 January and 14 February 2025 with another user. During those communications, you transmitted text-based and image-based Category 1 child abuse material to the other person. The two videos sent on 12 February 2025 again involved young female children involved in sexual acts with dogs. One of those was the same video the subject of count 11. You told the other user that you would have had her engage in sexual activity with a dog for her fifth birthday in the context of having stated that you would have brought her up the “right way” if you were her father.
Count 14 is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire on 4 February 2025 with another user named “Rape my Daughter”. During those communications, you transmitted text-based and image-based Category 1 child abuse material to the other person. In that material, you discussed sexual activity involving the other user’s nine year old daughter in graphic and disturbing terms. You appeared to be attempting to get the other user to bring her daughter online so you could “jerk off for her a bit”. The request was refused. You sent a Category 1 child abuse material video to the other user, depicting a peri-pubescent female involved in a sexual act.
Count 15 is a charge of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material. This relates to your communications using Wire on 18 February 2025 with another user. During those communications, you transmitted eight separate Category 1 child abuse material videos to the other person.
Count 16 is a charge of possessing bestiality products on 21 March 2025. This relates to ten images, deemed to be bestiality, stored on your mobile phone. The material consisted of animated and real-life images of adults engaging in sexual activity with animals.
Count 17 is a further count of possessing bestiality products on that same day, relating to eight videos deemed to be bestiality stored on your microserver. This material consisted of adult women engaged in sexual activity with animals.
The Crown Statement of Facts set out brief descriptions of examples of the videos and images related to each of the charges, together with the text of some of the conversations you engaged in with others over the messaging applications. An extremely disturbing pattern emerges from that material. The bulk of the file-based child abuse material was in the form of videos. Further, they principally fall within Category 1, that is involving pre-pubescent children under the age of 13. While the categories utilised to classify the material in this case can encompass material ranging in depravity, the examples to which I have been referred are objectively very serious. The children range in age from babies to pre-pubescent, peri-pubescent and pubescent. Most of the children depicted are female. With the exception of a few examples which are described as anime, all involve real children. What is patently clear is that you had an interest in, if not a preference for, material involving younger children which you openly referred to in the conversations with others.
Much of the material described involves children involved in penetrative sexual acts with adult males and females. The sexual abuse depicted includes adult penile child penetration of the anus, vagina and mouth, adult digital child penetration of the anus and vagina and penetration of a child’s anus or vagina with objects. One of the described videos was of a pre-pubescent child’s mouth and vagina being simultaneously penetrated by two adult males.
Some of the material, including the text-based material that you transmitted, concerns sexual activity between children and animals. The facts relating to counts 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13 and 14 refer to videos and discussions concerning such material. The titles and descriptions of the files to which I have been referred are also are suggestive of an interest in the involvement of the subject children in forced sexual activity. Again, the conversations you engaged in which relate to counts 5 and 14 indicate that interest explicitly. Adult females are also involved in the sexual abuse of children in some instances.
In summary, the material is highly depraved and revolting. The videos record children being subjected to grave sexual abuse in real time.
You were interviewed following the search. You admitted possession of child abuse material. You classified yourself as “a bit of a collector”. You admitted to having been sent “bits and pieces” by other people through chat applications, such as WhatsApp and Wire.
You are 42 years old. You were 40-41 years old when you engaged in this offending. You have no relevant prior convictions. You are an Aboriginal man. You have a history of trauma related to family violence within your extended family, and exposure to violent crime committed by close family members. You were raised by your grandmother until you moved out at age 16. Your mother was only 14 when she gave birth to you, and while she has been a part of your life, she did not parent you. You experienced a particularly traumatic event when you were 17 years old when you were sexually assaulted when you were trapped in a shed.
You have a history of depression and have been treated for that condition since 2018. Your previous diagnoses include complex post traumatic stress disorder, major depressive episode, emotional dysregulation and cannabis use disorder.
Despite your adverse childhood experiences, you completed high school and entered the workforce part way through Year 11. You had a good work history. You are a qualified carpenter. You worked for many years in various roles using those skills. Unfortunately, you sustained injuries to your back in 2019 and 2021 and have been unemployed for a period as a result. You were receiving Jobseeker allowance when I remanded you in custody. You have stable accommodation which you will likely lose as a result of being imprisoned.
You were previously married and there are two children of the relationship. Your youngest child, who is now eight years old, has significant disabilities and is wheelchair bound and non-verbal. You and your former wife separated five years ago. Your relationship with your ex-wife was previously amicable, however, has been negatively affected since you were charged with these offences. Prior to being charged with these offences, you were caring for your children on a regular basis on weekends and during the holidays. Since being charged, supervised contact has been facilitated with the children once or twice a week.
You have been attending counselling with the Aboriginal Health Service in relation to these charges. You are not currently prescribed medication for your mental health. You occasionally drink and, until you were remanded in custody, continued to use cannabis.
I have been provided a forensic psychological report, authored by Dr Georgina O’Donnell. She noted your self-report that you had been downloading illicit pornography over a period of a couple of years and had been participating in illicit chats with other people. It is apparent from the information before the Court that some of the material you possessed on your microserver had been downloaded as early as 12 April 2013. You explained to Dr O’Donnell that your online behaviour developed after your marriage ended and was driven by not having a sexual partner and feeling lonely. You described finding the variety of fantasy content online sexually exciting. You told Dr O’Donnell you liked chatting with people “to see what they were into”. You also told her that you were not particularly excited by bestiality. You explained that your choice of username was reflective of adult sexual terminology and not a desire for incest. You described your sexual experience as being sexual mainstream. You also told Dr O’Donnell that despite the excitement, you also felt feelings of guilt, shame and hatred towards yourself for feeling sexually excited about the online content involving female children.
Dr O’Donnell identified that the primary cause of your offending behaviour is the re-enforcement of your paraphilic interest in female children and bestiality while exploring your sexual fantasies online after separation from your wife. She has identified that the motivation for your behaviour was sexual gratification. In her opinion, the Verdins factors were not enlivened in this case.
Dr O’Donnell did identify, however, that you present with a number of risk factors that she recommended be taken into account in sentencing. She highlighted that it is well established that Aboriginal offenders have a heightened risk of death in custody, particularly where there is a history of depression, complex trauma, and self-harm ideation. You have a phobic response to being locked in. Incarceration of you in those circumstances, particularly given your Aboriginal background, is associated with a higher risk of mental health deterioration, and risk of self-harm, or suicide in custody. Dr O’Donnell identified you would likely benefit from a substance use rehabilitation program, given your reliance on alcohol and cannabis to help you cope with episodic depression throughout your life. She also identified you would likely benefit from an offence-specific treatment program to assist you to manage your paraphilic sexual interest and to develop healthy sexual relationships in the future.
Your offending is very serious. The nature and content of the material, age of the children involved in the production of that material, and the gravity of the sexual activity depicted, which in a number of instances involved cruelty, the use of force and the extreme degradation of the child or children involved, are the predominant features of your offending.
The quantity of files you transmitted, accessed and possessed is not insignificant. The Crown was unable to identify whether the files relating to counts 1 and 2 (possession of child abuse material charges) overlapped with the material the subject of the counts 3 to 15 (transmission and access charges). They were, however, able to identify that there was some overlap in the material transmitted on a number of counts. One video that relates to count 7 was also transmitted in the course of the offending comprised in count 13. One of the videos transmitted in count 11 was also transmitted in the context of the offending the subject of count 13. Finally, one of the files transmitted in count 14 was also transmitted in the course of the offending the subject of count 15.
This Court has dealt with cases where a larger number of files was involved. In this case, the overwhelming majority of material is comprised of videos depicting the real time abuse of children of the most heinous kind. While the quantity of material is a relevant consideration, the nature of the material has consistently been identified by Courts as the primary relevant factor in the assessment of the objective seriousness of the offending.
These charges also include instances of you sharing material with other people. You transmitted material to 12 separate online users, on some occasions completely unprompted. During the course of the offending the subject of counts 3 to 15, you transmitted a total of 76 category 1 videos to other users. Such activity has the effect of broadening the distribution of material that so vilely records the terrible abuse of children, and in turn furthers their victimisation. In respect of the possession charges, you had some of the material for in excess of ten years. This was clearly not a passing interest. Your offending only ceased due to the search. Clearly, specific deterrence has some work to do in your case.
General deterrence is the most important sentencing factor in such offences. Unfortunately, such offending is prevalent and the depraved material is readily available to those who dare to seek it out. It is important that the Court sends a clear message that the protection of children is of the utmost importance. These offences are not victimless crimes. Your access and distribution of such material supports the market for the exploitation and abuse of children.
I note your pleas of guilty, frank admissions to police and cooperation with the investigation, particularly the provision of the information required to access your devices. You pleaded guilty at an early stage in the Magistrates Court. By doing so, you have saved the need for a trial. It is clear, however, that the pleas were entered in the face of a very strong prosecution case. You have reported being disgusted with yourself when offending. I am prepared to accept that that is the case to some extent, however, it is quite clear that you allowed your sexual interest to overcome any self disgust. You have not yet undertaken any offence-specific treatment to deal with your sexual interest in children. Although you have been undertaking counselling through the Aboriginal Health Service, this seems principally directed at helping you deal with the emotional fallout from the detection of these offences and the likely consequences.
As for the State charges, a modest number of images and videos is involved. It is clear, despite your suggestion otherwise to Dr O’Donnell, that you do have an interest in bestiality. This suggests some diminished insight into the extent of your paraphilic interests. It is particularly disturbing that your interest in bestiality extended to material involving sexual activity between children as young as babies and animals.
Given you are being sentenced for reportable offences, I am required to make an order pursuant to s 6 of the Community Protection Offender Reporting Act 2005 unless I am satisfied that you do not pose a risk of committing a reportable offence in the future. I am not so satisfied. You engaged in this behaviour for an extended period of time and have admitted a sexual interest in this sort of material. As you are being sentenced for multiple Class 1 reportable offences, the maximum period of order that I can make is 15 years. I am satisfied that a moderate order is required in this case in light of your risk and the seriousness of your offending. I order that the Registrar cause your name to be placed on the register and that you comply with the reporting obligations under the Community Protection Offender Reporting Act for a period of seven years on your release from prison.
In sentencing you for the Commonwealth offences, I am required to impose a sentence that is of a severity appropriate in all of the circumstances of the offences and have regard to such of the matters set out in s 16A(2) of the Crimes Act as are relevant and known to the Court. I have already referred to those matters. Each of the Commonwealth crimes attracts a maximum period of imprisonment of 15 years which indicates the seriousness with which they are regarded by the Parliament and the community. I am satisfied that a sentence of imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence in all of the circumstances of the case. I take into account your personal circumstances, however, there is no suggestion that they had any causative role in your offending or operate to reduce your moral culpability. General and specific deterrence, protection of the community, specifically children, from the vile abuse depicted in the material are of overwhelming importance. Children were harmed in the production of this material. People engaging in such conduct must expect punishment. Sentences should serve to signal to the community, insofar as that is possible, that such conduct will be met with harsh consequences. In respect of the Commonwealth matters, I am also required to impose separate, cumulative sentences in relation to each of the charges unless I am satisfied that imposing the sentences in a different manner would still result in sentences that are of a severity appropriate in all of the circumstances. I consider that it would be appropriate to impose sentences in a different manner. Counts 1 and 2 relate to the same course of conduct, albeit they relate to possession of child abuse material on different devices. Counts 3 to 15 relate to a similar course of conduct. I propose to impose an aggregate sentence for those offences recognising there is some overlap in the activity (for example, count 4 and 5 relate to the same series of communications) and some overlap in the material. I will also order a degree of concurrency for the two sets of the offences, recognising the possibility there is an overlap in the material involved in the possession and transmission offences, and the need to impose a sentence that reflects of the totality of your offending. I must impose a separate sentence for the State offences. It will operate concurrently with the sentence I impose on counts 1 and 2 as they also arise from the same course of conduct. The sentences I impose have been discounted by 25% in recognition of your pleas of guilty and cooperation with the investigation. The overall sentence reflects the period of imprisonment I have determined is appropriate to the seriousness of overall conduct.
Ambrose Kevin McDonald, you are convicted of all charges on complaint 90138/2026.
On counts 1 and 2, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment for 18 months from 31 July 2026.
On counts 3 to 15, you are sentenced to a term of 24 months’ imprisonment to commence from 31 July 2027.
As the total effective sentence is one of three years, I am required to make a recognizance release order. Because of the nature of the charges, I must order that you serve a period of full time custody unless I am satisfied there are exceptional circumstances. I am not so satisfied. Your personal circumstances and other factors are not such that they could not be properly described as exceptional in the context of what I consider to be very serious offending. In setting the release date, I have considered the minimum period of time required to be served in the interests of justice, together with the matters referred to in s 16A(2AAA) of the Crimes Act.
I order that you be released on 30 March 2028 upon entering into your own recognizance in the sum of $1,000 without surety for a period of 24 months expiring on 29 March 2030 that you will comply with the following conditions:
- That you be of good behaviour;
- That you be subject to the supervision of probation officers of Community Corrections and obey all reasonable directions of those officers;
- That you not travel interstate or overseas without the written permission of a probation officer; and
- That you undertake such treatment or rehabilitation programs that a probation officer reasonably directs.
On counts 16 and 17, I impose a three month period of imprisonment commencing on 31 July 2026.