TV journalist Ben McCormack has reported to police for bail for the final time before he is sentenced over his child sex fantasy messages.
The former A Current Affair reporter, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of using a carriage service to transmit, publish or promote child pornography in September.
McCormack will be sentenced by District Court Judge Paul Conlon on Wednesday. The offence carries a maximum punishment of 15 years imprisonment.
Under the username oz4skinboi, the media personality sent a series of instant messages over Skype describing his ‘love’ for ‘young bs’ to another man.
McCormack ducked into a Sydney police station in a hoodie on Monday as family and friends keenly anticipated the imminent end of his long legal nightmare.
Former TV journalist Ben McCormack reported to police for bail for the final time on Monday morning
McCormack, 43, pleaded guilty to two charges of using a carriage service to transmit, publish or promote child pornography
A recent hearing heard evidence McCormack had typically ‘self-medicated’ with alcohol when he was writing his sordid correspondence
A recent sentencing hearing heard evidence McCormack had ‘self-medicated’ with alcohol when he was writing his sordid correspondence and knew what he was doing was ‘wrong’.
His lawyer Sam Macedone submitted psychiatric reports to the court which showed McCormack had struggled with alcohol use disorder, depression and paedophilic thoughts.
‘The material seems to indicate he had struggled significantly with where he was in his life in that state of depression which he was diagnosed with,’ Judge Conlon said.
‘Whenever he self-medicated, that is with alcohol, that was when he was most prone to engaging in this sort of behaviour.’
A Crown prosecutor, who declined to be named to media, told the court McCormack should serve a custodial sentence.
But, the prosecutor, that ‘doesn’t mean we are saying full-time custody’.
Speaking of his prospects for rehabilitation, the judge said he had ‘never seen’ someone seeking treatment for their problem before being arrested, as McCormack had.
‘This is the first time I have ever seen a case involving this type of charge (where) the offender himself, well before he was arrested …. was seeking professional assistance for what he knew was wrong.’
‘He had been seeking that assistance for some years’, he said, before asking: ‘Am I incorrect in coming to the conslution that is offending must be viewed down towards the lowest end of the scale?’
The prosecutor told the court a ‘potentially negative’ factor could be that McCormack had not stopped sending the messages even while he was being treated.
A prominent journalist, McCormack is pictured in an exclusive A Current Affair story
McCormack, his family and friends are awaiting the imminent end of his long, legal nightmare
The court heard evidence McCormack was ‘self-loathing’ over the behaviour and had twice attempted suicide
During the November hearing, Mr Macedone told the court the former journalist had tried to kill himself twice in the days that followed his April 10, 2017 arrest.
‘When it exploded in his mind, he came to realise his worst thoughts had materialized,’ Mr Macedone told the court.
‘His main concern isn’t so much what he has to go through but what he is putting his family through’.
After describing one incident, Mr Macedone told the court: ‘I did what I could to satisfy him all would be OK.
‘Thankfully he’s here today.’
McCormack was the journalist who famously tracked down Hey Dad! paedophile Robert Hughes in Singapore.
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