‘Open justice’: Magistrate denies suppression request as Geraldton man Daniel Francis Thomas Barnard, 48, pleads guilty to sharing child porn

A magistrate has refused to suppress the identity of a convicted paedophile from Geraldton who shared videos of children being sexually abused and tortured via an encrypted online messaging forum. Daniel Francis Thomas Barnard, 48, pleaded guilty in Geraldton Magistrate’s Court yesterday to counts of accessing, possessing and transmitting child abuse material using a carriage system. Barnard, who has previous convictions for sexually penetrating a child in 2009 and for distributing child exploitation material in 2015, also pleaded guilty to possession of bestiality material and failure to comply with reporting obligations. In a bid to prevent media from reporting his name, Barnard’s lawyer Kate Fry applied yesterday to have the remainder of the case heard in closed court. Her request came after a report on Barnard’s last court appearance in May was shared hundreds of times on Facebook, with many users making explicit threats towards him. But Magistrate Chris Miocevich refused Ms Fry’s application — a decision backed by Commonwealth prosecutor Shezah Arif. “I have an outline of submissions from Mr Barnard’s lawyers; it sets out the reasons for why the application should be granted,” Mr Miocevich said. “In essence, it’s in relation to response to articles already written about Mr Barnard and the charges he faces, and numerous Facebook posts in relation to Mr Barnard. “And I gather from the application it is concern in relation to, if he had a trial, him having a fair trial, and also in relation to a family member and safety concerns in relation to that family member.” Mr Miocevich said concerns about a fair trial were now irrelevant given Mr Barnard’s guilty pleas, adding that his concern for the victims outweighed other considerations. “I’m also told that the safety concerns in relation to the family member of Mr Barnard have been investigated (by police) and there doesn’t appear to be any further safety concerns,” he said. “In my view it’s not in the interest of open justice that I grant the application to make a suppression order, so I refuse the application.” Barnard, who is also accused of hosting a group that shared abuse material, was busted after allegedly having sexually explicit conversations with a covert investigator. He was arrested after police raided his Cape Burney home in April and seized a mobile phone containing 723 videos and 581 images ranging from categories one to six — including about 200 bestiality videos. Because of his previous convictions Barnard was required to notify police if he acquired a mobile phone, but failed to do so. His bail was refused in May, with the magistrate saying there were no conditions he could impose to prevent reoffending. Barnard was yesterday remanded in custody at Hakea Prison ahead of his next appearance in the District Court in late July.