Families SA carer jailed for paedophilia and heading a child pornography website

Former government carer Shannon Grant McCoole has been found guilty of abusing seven children as young as 18 months old. McCoole, who also appeared to be the head administrator of a global child pornography website with more than 1,000 members, has been sentenced to 35 years in jail by the District Court in Adelaide on Friday.

Last year in May, 33-year-old McCoole was caught by the Danish Police when they found photos of young sexually abused children taken by him. Police reported that the victims included little girls up to 3 years old, who were mostly neglected by their family, and included boys as well. However, he also victimised children who did not suffer neglect, a district judge confirmed.

Discovering the offence, Royal Commission led an enquiry into South Australia's child protection system, which was headed by former Supreme Court Justice Margaret Nyland.

He was criticised by the Judge Paul Rice on the account of being “evil and depraved” and accused him of having no moral compulsions. "You have to live with self inflicted infamy," Judge Rice said.

He said incidents of sexual abuse leave long lasting impacts on children and they tend to live with for years. He ensured that McCoole would spend most of life in prison and look into the prospects of his rehabilitation. He also said there had been a "marked increase in offending of this kind."

A woman is believed to have shared details of McCoole's sexual acts against victims aged 18 months to three years. Previously, during the first hearing of the court, Judge Rice warned that Families SA has failed to keep up their work generating “disastrous consequences.”

McCoole pleaded guilty to the charges and said he hated himself for being a paedophile. He said it was "hard to explain or understand how I committed these crimes.”

"I have never been sexually abused myself or anything. I had a really good childhood, there is no reason for it," he said . "I have researched why the hell I am the way I am and I just don't know."

In a statement, Attorney-General John Rau said the sentencing should deter people from committing such crimes in future and hoped to see such cases cease to exist.

Several families have expressed their agony over the issue and said that they felt betrayed by the system as it failed to keep the children protected. Many have said they experienced sleepless nights after getting to know what happened to their daughters. “I let my daughter down as a parent and couldn't protect her from any harm," said one of the victim’s family members.

McCoole's lawyer, Ross Christoforou, said McCoole was in a very difficult situation and suggested that he wanted to help other young people deal with paedophilic urges after he’s released from Prison.

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