The Offence of Possessing, Controlling, Producing or Supplying Child Abuse Material in Australia

New South Wales Police Sex Crime Squad detectives from Strike Force Constantine executed six search warrants across Gadigal land in the Sydney suburbs of Waterloo, Ultimo and Malabar at 7am on Thursday, 25 November 2025, in respect of an ongoing State Crime Command Child Exploitation Internet Unit investigation into an alleged international satanic child sexual abuse material ring.

Four men were arrested over their alleged participation in what police assert is a Sydney-based child sexual abuse network that is said to have been involved in the possession, distribution and facilitation of child sexual abuse material through a website administered internationally. The child sexual material reported to have been located during the raids is said to involve ritualistic and satanic themes.

Detectives arrested a 26-year-old male at the Waterloo address. Police consider the man to be the ringleader of the group. Three other men were arrested in Malabar. They are aged 39, 42 and 46 years old. All four men were charged with various offences in relation to the use of a carriage service for child abuse material, while the Malabar men are additionally charged with drug offences.

The 26-year-old ringleader, Landon Germanotta-Mills, appeared before NSW Magistrate Margaret Quinn on the day following arrest. Her Honour described the child abuse material alleged to have been in the 26-year-old’s possession as “disturbing”. He’s been remanded in prison and will appear again in 2026, while the three men from Malabar were charged that same day and also refused bail.

The offence of possessing, controlling, producing or supplying child abuse material

Germanotta-Mills has been charged with 11 counts of use carriage service for child abuse material, contrary to section 474.22 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth). The prosecution must prove an accused voluntarily used a carriage service in respect of child abuse material. This crime carries up to 15 years imprisonment.

This federal prohibition on child abuse material applies across Australia and involves using a carriage service in order to access child abuse material, cause such material to be transmitted to oneself, or transmit, make available, publish, distribute, advertise or promote child abuse material, as well as to solicit such material.

Sex Crime Squad detectives have charged the 26-year-old Waterloo man with seven counts of make child abuse material available over a carriage service, one count of access child abuse material via the service, along with three counts of possess child abuse material via a carriage service.

Child abuse material is that which a reasonable person would find offensive, and it depicts or describes a person, or a representation of a person, who is or appears to be under 18 and appears to be a victim of torture, cruelty or physical abuse or it can further comprise of a minor in a sexual pose or activity or they’re in the presence of another engaged in such a pose or activity.

According to the Criminal Code, child abuse material can also involve the depiction or description of a sexual organ or anal region of a minor or the breasts of a girl under 18 and these materials are meant for a sexual purpose, and a reasonable person would find them offensive.

Child abuse material can further involve a doll or an object that resembles a person, or a part of the body of a person, who is under 18 years of age.

Section 7 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth) defines a carriage service as “a service for carrying communications by means of guided and/or unguided electromagnetic energy”, and this can include landline and mobile phones, along with the internet.

Statutory defence

‘Statutory defence’ is a term often given to a legal defence that does not originate from common law; which is law developed through case decisions in court over many years.

These statutory defences are normally contained within the section or part of legislation that contains the offence itself.

Section 474.24 of the Criminal Code contains the statutory defence of ‘having engaged in the offence for the public benefit’. This also entails the suspect’s actions only having been conducted for the purpose of public benefit.

The conduct can be of public benefit if it was carried out in relation to enforcing Commonwealth, state or territory law, or in monitoring compliance with or an investigation of a contravention of such a law, as well as in the administration of justice, or in conducting scientific, medical or educational research approved by the AFP minister.

General legal defence

A general legal defence is one that applies to all criminal offences, unless specifically excluded under the applicable legislation.

The most commonly used general legal defence to child abuse material offences is duress is also available. Duress involves an accused arguing that they perpetrated a crime due to a threat that had been made against them or a loved one. The suggested harm posed by the threat must be serious enough to warrant the action.

Other offences charged to the ringleader

Germanotta-Mills is further facing two counts of disseminating bestiality material, contrary to subsection 547E(1) of the Crimes Act. Bestiality comprises of a sexual relation between a person and an animal. The maximum penalty that he’ll face for each of these crimes is 5 years in prison.

The last count involves the possession of bestiality material, contrary to subsection 547E(2) of the Crimes Act, and it carries up to 3 years inside.

A rising crisis in child abuse material

The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) reported in September that over the 2024-25 financial year, there had been a 41 percent spike in online child sexual exploitation reports. The AFP-led centre further suggested that this rising crisis requires a whole-of-community approach to reducing it.

ACCCE received 82,762 child sexual exploitation reports over the 12 months to June 2025. Most of these came from the United States National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. This compared with 58,503 reports over the 12 months prior.

The AFP warns that child sexual exploitation further entails criminal behaviour like sextortion and online grooming. The federal police also partner with the financial sector in an attempt to disrupt such activities, via the identification of accounts that funnel money back to these operations. Law enforcement is also working with social media platforms in relation to this crime.

“The 41 percent rise in reports of online child sexual exploitation is hugely confronting, as it represents acts of unspeakable horror and trauma that involve Australians as both victims and offenders,” said AFP commander human exploitation Helen Schneider.

“These acts range from the creation, distribution and consumption of child abuse material through to the livestreaming of child sexual abuse overseas.”