Bruce Harrison jailed for 100,000 images of child abuse material
An award-winning Melbourne DJ who worked at weddings and private school formals will spend at least three years in jail after police found a hard drive holding more than 100,000 child abuse images and videos in his home.
Bruce Harrison, 59, spent two decades amassing the material, which included videos he filmed and other professionally shot explicit videos and photographs of prepubescent girls.
Melbourne DJ and MC Bruce Harrison amassed a collection of more than 100,000 images and videos. Facebook
The material ranged from screenshots of homemade movies to images of babies being abused by men.
Police raided Harrison’s home in June 2022 after one of his underage victims discovered a video of herself partially undressed in a folder of deleted images on his phone, and told her mother. The video was recorded a day earlier.
While Harrison largely worked at weddings and events, posts shared on social media suggest he also worked as a DJ at the school formals of several girls’ schools in Melbourne, including Star of the Sea College in Brighton, Sacre Coeur in Glen Iris and Siena College in Camberwell.
“Thanks for being a great bunch of kids, Sacre Coeur. What an awesome night we had. Loved all your beautiful smiles and the happy high-fives,” he wrote in the caption of a video posted to his professional Facebook profile in March 2022. The video shows teenagers dancing to ABBA’s 1979 hit song Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
A video posted to the profile two days earlier shows a crowded dance floor and Mr Brightside by The Killers blasting through the speakers. In the caption, Harrison wrote: “Siena College – you guys were awesome and that went way too fast. See you next year!”
It is unclear whether Harrison continued to work at school events after police uncovered the material. None of the offending relates to the girls filmed at the school events.
Spokespeople for Siena College, Star of the Sea College and Sacre Coeur said the schools were unaware of Harrison’s offending. They said the DJ was part of the services provided by the venue that hosted the school events, Leonda By The Yarra, and the schools hadn’t engaged him directly. Leonda By The Yarra declined to comment.
Bruce Harrison (left) receiving an award in recognition for his work as a wedding DJ and MC. Facebook
Harrison was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria last month after pleading guilty to producing and possessing child abuse material in what judge Kevin Doyle described as a “pretty much overwhelming” case.
“By quantity alone, this is obviously a high-end example of possession of child abuse material. The number of files containing child abuse material you amassed was more than 100,000,” Doyle said.
“Much of the material on description is entirely repulsive. These are not victimless crimes. Real children were involved in the production of this child abuse material. Children were sexually abused to supply the market and you were part of that market.”
According to court documents released to The Age, Harrison secretly filmed two girls between 2020 and 2022, as well as two young women in 2017. The DJ used a mobile phone hidden in a mirror and an empty toothbrush box to record some of the videos, which featured the women and one of the girls undressing and showering.
During sentencing, Doyle described Harrison’s offending as a “planned and premeditated” extension of his obsession with child abuse material.
“You hid cameras and placed them strategically in bathrooms and bedrooms to record children and young women undressing and naked,” the judge said.
“You progressed to the offending involving ‘known victims’ perhaps because of a need for greater stimulation and arousal.”
The court heard one of the girls, whom Harrison filmed about a dozen times, was experiencing panic attacks and struggling to attend school independently. The girl was also struggling to trust men, including her father.
“She feels uncomfortable with hugging and kissing and being alone with her father,” Doyle said. “This is a consequence you caused by your behaviour. She says it will be hard to trust new people.”
Harrison was born in England and lived in New Zealand before moving to Australia. He told psychologists he had an abusive upbringing marred by physical, emotional and sexual abuse. The 59-year-old worked as a fruit picker, factory worker and recruiter before turning his hobby of DJing into a career in 2005.
Doyle jailed Harrison for four years and six months. He will serve a minimum of three years behind bars before he is eligible for parole, and will be a registered sex offender for life.
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on (1800 737 732).
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Source : https://amp.theage.com.au/national/victoria/melbourne-dj-who-worked-at-school-events-jailed-over-100-000-images-videos-of-child-abuse-20240405-p5fhqs.html
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Date : 2024-04-22 08:00:00
