A drug-addicted “hippy” found with child porn, a cache of female underwear and a loaded gun inside a blacked-out panel van parked at Primbee has attempted to downplay his deviant behaviour as that of a “sexually adventurous” man.
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Police were patrolling the foreshore one night in August last year when their attention was drawn to a lone Toyota van sitting in a dark, empty carpark.
Smelling cannabis as they approached the van, the officers removed Benjamin Hart from the driver’s seat and searched the vehicle.
They discovered a large bag of women’s underwear in child and adult sizes, USB devices containing thousands of child porn images and videos, a loaded revolver and small amounts of methamphetamine and cannabis.
They also reported the vehicle had been modified, with lining fixed to walls to make the van sound proof and a single leather chair installed frontways in the middle of the cargo area.
Hart was charged and remanded in custody before pleading guilty to a range of offences earlier this year.
During an interview with psychologist Laura Durkin, the 38-year-old denied he was attracted to children but admitted being “inquisitive” about underage pornography and aroused by it.
He told Ms Durkin he was “sexually adventurous” and watched a diverse range of erotic movies including transgender, pregnancy porn, urination, defecation and bestiality.
Hart also reported having an ongoing “underwear fetish”, which he satisfied by watching his wife dress in various kinds of underwear, including children’s knickers.
He said he watched porn weekly before his arrest but claims he only viewed the child abuse material five times during the previous 12 months and was “ashamed” for his “mistake”.
Ms Durkin noted Hart had been using cannabis since the age of 16 and up to half a gram of ice on a daily basis for the past decade.
In relation to the gun, Hart said he’d stolen it from his father because he feared the older man was going senile and the weapon would be seized by police. He told Ms Durkin he was planning on travelling to northern Australia and thought he might need it for protection, but admitted he was an “idiot” for leaving it loaded.
Ms Durkin assessed Hart’s risk of engaging with child pornography in the future as moderate, noting he had some “paraphilic interests and fetishes that he explores through pornography use”.
She said there was limited evidence to suggest Hart would physically act on his desires, however recommend he participate in a sex offender treatment program while in custody.
Hart will face sentencing in Wollongong District Court on Friday.
