- 4 for the purpose of publication. I have looked at the pictures because it is my
duty so to do and in order that I may know what we are dealing with here.
They are not simply common pornography which includes the shewing of
nudes, shewing publicly what people do in private or homosexual acts but are
depraved heterosexual and homosexual acts with very young children, dead
bodies, dismembered body parts and so on.
Fear and nausea were my
immediate reactions to these pictures. The experience sent shivers up my
spine; even now when I think about them. I cannot envisage anything more
depraved.
To describe them as obscene simpliciter would be a gross
under-statement. I can only echo the sentiments of the learned Magistrate who
passed sentence in the court below that the pictures depict scenes of such utter
depravity, and are of such absolutely revolting nature that it will be hard to
find anything which would top them on the list of obscenities. Something
therefore must be done to truly reflect the horror, shock and total disgust that
such pictures will bring to all and sundry. Further, to have published them on
the Internet which has the potential of an extremely wide audience both
locally and internationally (and the fact that the complaint in relation to this
matter originated from Vienna proves that); that this audience may well
include children and mentally unstable persons; and that this was totally
without safeguards whatsoever since it was free, must be, to any court, serious
aggravating factors.
I have taken into consideration all that has been said and all that
could be said on behalf of the Appellant. Firstly, the fact that the pictures were
not published for profit I find not to be a mitigating factor of much import. If
the publication was for profit, then it serves as an additional aggravating
factor. Further, it is clear that the Appellant knew that such publication was
also an offence in Japan and therefore the allegation that they were easily
available there is not a mitigating factor either. In other words, the offences