Jennifer Cook: Woman jailed for bestiality, child abuse material offences wins appeal
A woman jailed for having sexual intercourse with her mother's dog and accessing child abuse material will have four months shaved off her sentence after winning an appeal.
Jennifer Cook pleaded guilty to one count each of using a carriage service to access child exploitation material, using a carriage service to transmit and make available child exploitation material, and committing an act of bestiality with an animal in April last year.
A video of Cook engaging in sexual intercourse with her mother's dog was found on her phone as well as the phone of her former partner and co-offender Benjamin Day after their home was raided by the Australian Federal Police in September 2022.
Cook had also accessed child abuse material (CAM) between 2020 and 2022, including animations or cartoons, videos, and a real image.
Further details of the offending are too disturbing to publish.
Cook was ultimately jailed for 3½ years, with a non-parole period of two years.
She has since turned to NSW's Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) to challenge parts of her sentence, arguing the judge made a mistake in determining the seriousness of the charge related to accessing CAM.
A recently published judgment on the appeal confirmed that the statement of agreed facts incorrectly stated two images found on Cook's devices depicted real children when there was only one.
While this was raised by Cook's counsel at sentencing and conceded by the prosecution, the facts were not formally corrected.
Justice Stephen Rothman found this meant the sentencing judge determined the seriousness of the offence 'based on a mistake of fact'.
'It is unfortunate that the sentencing judge was misled in the agreed facts and the correction was not formalised,' Justice Rothman said in the judgment.
'A mistake of fact is an identifiable error and permits the court on appeal to intervene in the sentence imposed.'
It was not suggested Cook or her co-offender had themselves filmed a real person being abused.
Cook also argued in her appeal that her sentence was 'manifestly excessive' and the judge had erred in determining the threshold for a custodial sentence was met.
Justice Rothman found the threshold was passed in each offence 'given the seriousness and depravity of the offending', even when it did not involve an image of a real child.
The Crown ultimately argued that Cook's entire appeal should be dismissed, and if it was allowed, a lesser sentence was not warranted.
Justice Rothman decided that Cook's original sentence should be quashed and a fresh one of three years and two months' jail, with a non-parole period of two years and 10 months, dated to March 25, 2023, be imposed.
This sentence will be four months shorter than Cook's initial sentence.
She will be eligible for parole on June 24, 2025.
Justice Rothman noted in his judgment that Cook suffered emotional abuse and struggled with substance abuse and mental health disorders.
Cook's co-accused has also lodged an intention to appeal his sentence; however, no dates have been set at the time of publication.
He was charged with several bestiality and CAM offences and sentenced to an aggregate term of three years and nine months' jail, with a non-parole period of two years and six months.
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