A former head of English at Moriah College has been jailed for 18 months after more than 1100 images and videos of depraved child abuse were found on his devices,including of victims held at gunpoint and aged as young as two.
Cody Michael Reynolds,37, to possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service between November 2021 and February 2022,and using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material on March 9,2022 – the day of his arrest.
Cody Michael Reynolds arrives at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court for his sentencing on child abuse material charges.Janie Barrett
Sentencing Reynolds in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Thursday,Judge Phillip Mahony said it was “callous and pernicious offending” involving the exploitation of children unable to protect themselves,and fed an “abhorrent market”.
“He made conscious and deliberate decisions to offend,” the judge said. “I find that he did so for his own sexual gratification.”
Mahony was satisfied no sentence other than imprisonment was appropriate. He set a maximum jail term of two years and 10 months,but ordered that Reynolds be conditionally released after serving one year and six months.
Under the recognisance release order,which spans a fixed period from November 2024 to March 2026,Reynolds is to be of good behaviour,subject to community corrections supervision,undertake treatment and rehabilitation as directed by his probation officer and not travel interstate or overseas without approval. It also carries a $1000 bond.
Reynolds was handcuffed in the dock by sheriff’s officers and taken into custody. He had hugged his supporters before entering the courtroom.
The court heard more than 1100 images and 58 videos were found on Reynolds’ devices,including files in a hidden folder of his iPhone camera roll and on his work laptop,depicting children aged between two and 16. He used a variety of names for accounts including aliases mentioning “filth”.
The judge said the use of end-to-end encryption “demonstrated deception and concealment”.
Mahony said the Australian Federal Police reviewed 1.24 terabytes of data on a cloud storage application,and it was their policy to cease this review once 1000 images and 50 videos had been identified.
Prosecutors had submitted the child abuse files depicted children “sexually abused in highly depraved ways”,contained sadistic material and victims engaged in acts “under gunpoint”.
The Crown argued real children had been sexually abused,and the fact they had not been identified was not a mitigating factor.
The judge said a sexually explicit conversation between Reynolds and another user on WhatsApp had been about “playing with young boys”.
Cody Michael Reynolds previously worked as a teacher at Moriah College in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.Supplied
“I do not intend to further disseminate the child abuse material by reading it in court,” Mahony said.
He accepted the Crown submission that Reynolds transmitted video files to a like-minded user “encouraging their sexual interest in children and gratifying his own”.
The court heard Reynolds,who identifies as an Indigenous man,studied English,history and creative writing at university,completed a PhD,had a “successful career as a teacher” and presented his research at conferences.
Reynolds’ employment as head of English at Moriah College,a top private school in Queens Park,was terminated in March 2022.
,the school said it had been contacted by federal police regarding Reynolds’ arrest and advised there was nothing to suggest the offending occurred at Moriah College or related to any contact with students.
Reynolds’ sentence included a 30 per cent discount for early guilty pleas and assistance provided to authorities.
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