Former Channel Nine reporter Ben McCormack has been given a three-year good behaviour bond after pleading guilty to child abuse material offences.
The 43-year-old, who was suspended from his role on A Current Affair in April, appeared at the Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday. He had faced two charges of using a carriage service to transmit, publish or promote child abuse material.
Judge Paul Conlon said McCormack had acknowledged the wrongness of his conduct and sought professional help well before being charged. Releasing him on a $1,000 bond, the judge said he was unable to conclude that the only appropriate sentence was imprisonment.
The court heard McCormack had numerous conversations with an adult male between April 2015 and February 2017 involving fantasies about young male persons. Judge Conlon noted there had been no attempt to sexually exploit children or groom any child.
McCormack first saw psychiatrist Dr Michael Atherton in January 2015 for long-term anxiety and excessive alcohol use, and disclosed an attraction to young boys. In his report, Atherton said McCormack fantasised about his early life and incorporated this into an attraction to young boys, but added that he never felt McCormack posed a risk to young people.
