Court documents have revealed that corporate titan Ron Brierley had more than 10,000 images of child abuse material in his possession when he was arrested at Sydney Airport in 2019.
He told police he thought they were “perfectly OK” and he looked at them for recreation.
Georgina Mitchell reports that Brierley,84,had been on his way to Fiji when Australian Border Force officers stopped him on December 17. He unlocked his laptop,and the officers observed material that amounted to child abuse material.
A total of 11,765 child images were found on his laptop and two USBs,some of which were duplicates. Brierley also had two sexually explicit written stories,detailing the abuse of children,and an almost two-hour video of six young girls in their swimmers.
He denied looking at the images for a sexual purpose. Asked if the photos were sexually suggestive,Brierley responded:“Depends what you mean by sexually suggestive.”
Later that day,police raided his home in the affluent Sydney suburb of Point Piper and seized one laptop and 12 USBs,which contained a combined total of 35,030 child abuse images,some of which were duplicates. The youngest of the children appeared to be about four years old.
Brierley – who made his name as a corporate raider in New Zealand and Australia in the 1980s – pleaded guilty in April to three counts of possessing child abuse material. The former board member of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust was knighted in 1988 in his native New Zealand,but has since resigned his knighthood.
The charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and he will face a sentencing hearing on August 20..