The following month, Horsham Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigations Team began an investigation into the possession of child abuse material at Marks’ residential address in Horsham.
Marks’ home was searched at 8am on September 22, 2021, with police seizing four laptop computers, six smart phones, and six external storage devices. Marks was arrested and interviewed at Horsham Police Station.
The devices were analysed, with image file paths, and the cache viewed – a temporary file created when a user views an image on the internet, which remains until the user deletes it or the computer overwrites it after a certain period of time.
Police believe Marks accessed the material from October 9, 2012, with the files last accessed at 11.43pm on September 21, 2021.
The informant, Detective Senior Constable Cameron Holland described the images as ‘extremely cruel, disturbing images of actual children under the age of 12’.
The material was located in Marks’ email attachments, that only he had access to.
The court heard Marks, an Aboriginal elder in Wergaia and Dja Dja Wurrung country known as Uncle Ron, was born and raised at Dimboola, and received scholarships to attend Ballarat Grammar.
He has spent most of his life involved in community projects, and primary and secondary school education.
Marks has mentored Aboriginal students, taught Aboriginal studies, facilitated school camps, and planned and implemented education programs and projects.
Magistrate Kieran Gilligan said Marks’ guilty plea entitled him to consideration in sentencing.
“You have pleaded guilty, and you are entitled to a discount because of that; you have saved court time and prevented calling witnesses,” he said.
“There has been no subsequent offending in the four years since your arrest, I accept that you are remorseful – I refer to your letter dated today, and I further accept that you are ashamed of this offending.”
The morning of Wednesday’s court appearance, Marks wrote in a letter to the magistrate that since his arrest, he had felt regret and shame, and having put child safety and protection at the forefront in his work at Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-Operative, had a lot of remorse for his actions, writing he would ‘not make wrong decisions in the future’.
Mr Gilligan said the child abuse material was of most vile nature, and there was no evidence it had been shared or distributed, and no evidence of how many times it had been accessed during the nine-year period.
Marks’ health – he suffered a heart attack in 2012 and is type-two diabetic – contributed to his lessened sentence.
“There is evidence you are of good character,” Mr Gilligan said, addressing Marks with further points which led to a non-custodial sentence.
“Your plea of guilty, remorse, a delay which was not caused by you, no prior offences, no subsequent offences, an extremely low risk of reoffending in the next five years, your age, your medical condition, your Aboriginality, and your otherwise good character.”
People who need support can contact: the Sexual Assault Crisis Line on 1800 806 292; the Sexual Assault and Family Violence Centre at Horsham on 5381 1211; Headspace Horsham 5381 1543; Lifeline on 13 11 14; or for first nation’s peoples, 13YARN.
