A Queensland primary school teacher who had sickening child abuse material depicting a child about the same age as his students has been spared jail.
Caspian Walter Inskip, 26, has been working at the Mackay school for about 18 months when police caught him with an AI video that is too graphic to describe, and text messages where he talking about sexually abusing a child and said “can’t wait to have a son”.
Inskip pleaded guilty to making written child exploitation material and knowingly possessing child exploitation material and Crown Prosecutor Emily Thambyah last week argued the offences were aggravated due to his access to children, the Daily Mercury reported.
“It wasn’t actually the conduct that comprises the actual offense (count one), but also the conversation that followed in terms of ‘can’t wait to have a son’ which is of particular concern and demonstrates in my submission that Mr Inskip is a clear risk to children and the community,” she said.
“They’re not victimless crimes.”
But defence lawyer Scott McLennan said his client “just played along” with another man who instigated the explicit conversation and sent child abuse material, and said Inskip had never been subject to a complaint while working at either of his two schools.
“He completely rejects the notion that he has any intention of actually playing out these fantasies with actual children particularly if he had a child of his own,” he said.
Judge Tony Moynihan KC told the court that “all we know is they are statements of his state of mind”, and told Inskip: “Your conduct drives the demand for the content which inevitably leads to the sexual abuse of children.”
But the judge decided not a impose a prison sentence, citing Inskip’s lack of criminal history, low risk of reoffending and personal circumstances, and instead gave him a 15-month suspended sentence with a 12-month operational period.
The court heard Inskip is unable to return to teaching and is now working as a claims assessor for an insurance company.
Header image: Mackay Court (Google Street View).
