The son of a Queensland MP has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for possessing child exploitation material.
Daniel James Knuth, the son of state member for Hill Shane Knuth, pleaded guilty in the District Court in Townsville on Thursday to two counts of possessing child exploitation material and four counts of failing to comply with reporting.
Knuth was convicted of previous child exploitation charges in 2019 but police found evidence he had reoffended on two separate occasions in 2021 while on probation.
Knuth's fresh charges activated his previous four-year suspended sentence and resulted in another 18-month prison term.
He will be eligible for parole in April 2023 having already served 16 months in prison.
Defendant struggled with alcohol abuse
The court heard Knuth, 25, was hungover and asleep when police officers attended his family's home to check his compliance with reportable sex offender obligations, including a requirement to declare new social media or email accounts.
Crown prosecutor Nicole Butler said on that occasion Knuth attempted to "grab" his phone from police and delete the app Snapchat, but officers ultimately found he had established new Snapchat, Facebook and email accounts under false names.
The court heard the phone contained nearly 600 photographs and four videos of child exploitation material.
"The defendant had used the application to communicate with a number of girls aged between 12 to 16 years, including a picture of a person in a high school uniform," Ms Butler said.
She said when police arrested Knuth six weeks later, they found another new phone with more child exploitation material — about 20 photos and two videos.
A 'flagrant return to the offending'
The court heard Knuth, who has dwafism, had previously been afforded a "lenient" sentence when convicted for his initial charges, on the grounds that Queensland Corrective Services would be unable to account for his physical disabilities in prison.
But the prosecution argued Knuth had served 16 months behind bars since his arrest on new charges in October 2021 and should be further imprisoned.
"It is a completely flagrant return to the offending," Ms Butler said.
Knuth was supported in court by his brother, and his father Shane Knuth, who is the Katter's Australian Party MP for the north-west Queensland electorate of Hill.
Lawyers for Knuth said their client had struggled with alcohol abuse and social isolation since his initial conviction in 2019.
"He was excluded from his church and experienced several public confrontations, including, for example, being called a paedophile when simply walking across the street," defence barrister Jessica Horn said.
"On another occasion, he attended a gym only to be told to, 'Leave before he got hurt'.
"He resorted instead to alcohol abuse to numb his physical pain and emotional pain and, by the time he committed the offences, he was drinking a bottle of vodka over about two days."
'Your family deserves better'
In sentencing, Judge John Coker chastised Knuth's repeat offending.
"Whilst the number of images contained is minuscule compared to what is so often the case seen in this court … obtaining further images and videos on the second occasion that came to the attention of police is, in my view, the most serious thing here," he said.
"It is to be hoped that there can be a real change in the direction of you and your life.
"Your family deserves better. The community deserves better.
"And whilst I am mindful of the difficulties that you have experienced, it is to be hoped that you also can achieve better than you've done in the past."
