Indian man gets 2 months’ jail in Australia for having child porn in his phones
Melbourne, January 31
An Indian man was sentenced to two months in jail by an Australian court on Thursday for having child exploitation videos and other abhorrent content in his phones, according to a media report.
Manpreet Singh, 32, will be deported to India after completing his prison term, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported.
Singh, during a baggage search after he flew in to Perth from Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, was found having nine videos—which included bestiality and other severely offensive content—in his two mobile phones.
Singh was taken into custody and his tourist visa was cancelled. He told police in a video-recorded interview that he knew child pornography was illegal in Australia and India, but did not know the videos he possessed fell into that category, the report said.
He pleaded guilty in Perth Magistrates Court to two Commonwealth charges earlier this week and was sentenced on Thursday.
The court heard he had many more videos on his phones that he deleted before he came to Australia.
The magistrate said the offence was serious but took into account Singh’s early guilty plea, cooperation with authorities and previously clean record.
Singh was fined $500 and sentenced to seven months in prison, but will only have to serve two months behind bars.
For the remaining five months, he will be subject to a $1000 good behaviour recognisance, but will likely spend time in immigration detention before being sent back to India. — PTI
