Section 32 Mental Health Application granted for Possessing Child Abuse Material and Possess Prohibited Drug despite lengthy criminal record

Our client is a 45-year-old man from Sydney’s Inner West.

He had suffered a number of comorbid mental health conditions throughout his life which had led him to engage in drug use.

He would meet men on the dating app ‘Grindr’ who would attend his house with drugs as well as pornography on a USB. The USB would be plugged into our client’s laptop and the pornography would be played.

On one particular day, Police executed a search warrant at his residence. They located numerous drugs including cocaine, methylamphetamine (ice) and cannabis.

They also seized his laptop and discovered child abuse material on there.

Our client accepted that the drugs were his but he vehemently denied being aware of the child abuse material.

In light of our client’s mental state, we made an application pursuant to Section 32 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act (1990).

In support of the application, we arranged for one of our specialist psychologists to prepare a report and for our client to engage in drug rehabilitation as well as psychological treatment.

In our submissions, we highlighted the lengthy history of mental illness our client had as well as the fact that Police would have difficulty proving beyond reasonable doubt that our client was aware if the child abuse material.

The magistrate accepted our submissions and granted the Section 32 Application. Our client was elated with the result.