A man has been discharged from the Australian Defence Force after he admitted writing and emailing a child abuse material novel to several colleagues.
The child sex offender wrote the 205-page "explicit erotic fantasy story" involving dozens of children in his work draft emails over more than a year, at times while on shift.
The abuse material described the grooming and persistent sexual abuse of 45 individual female children, including underage members of the man's family.
The self-proclaimed "central character" of the depraved document cannot be named due to suppression orders.
On Thursday, defence barrister Beth Morrisroe told the ACT Supreme Court her client, aged in his 50s, had been discharged "as of yesterday".
"It was contemplated that would likely happen ... as a consequence of the offending," she said.
But what remains unclear is why the man was only discharged this week and not after pleading guilty to producing child abuse material in early July.
The Canberra Times first asked Defence about the former member at the time of that plea but no response was provided.
Numerous follow-up requests were subsequently ignored.
Defence refused to answer questions posed on Thursday about the man's employment, any possible suspension after he was charged, and why it took so long to discharge him.
Ms Morrisroe said her client was also now required to vacate his Defence property and was subject to around-the-clock supervision while around certain members of his family.
"He's not entitled to be in their presence unless supervised," the defence barrister said, noting the supervision could be conducted by his wife.
That woman greeted media cameras with a middle-finger salute outside court earlier this year.
On Thursday, Commonwealth prosecutor Cecilia Pascoe said the offender showed a lack of insight into the motivation behind his crime.
His repeated reasoning for the offending, the court heard, was "due to boredom and isolation at work".
"Lots of people can be bored at work, they don't turn to producing child abuse material," Ms Pascoe said.
According to court documents, the man's writing depicted him impregnating children and branding them with tattoos of his initials among other things.
He accidentally sent his work to four co-workers in May and was reported to police. Following his arrest, the man told officers he kept the abuse story in his secure work email.
It appears he is likely to receive a non-custodial jail term.
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson is set to sentence the man later this month.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Bravehearts 1800 272 831; Blue Knot Foundation 1300 657 380.
