A former Orange High School teacher and police officer has been sentenced to a suspended 12 month jail term for two counts of accessing child pornography.
Remo Peter Vardanega, 47, of Woodward Street, appeared in Orange Local Court yesterday.
Two computers were seized from Vardanega’s home in March this year as a result of a police investigation which started in February.
A request for computer examination was sent to the NSW Police State Electronic Evidence Branch.
More than 250 images of child pornography located in Internet Explorer cache files were found on a desktop computer, while a laptop had more than 20 images.
Some of the images showed children being sexually assaulted.
The images were accessed on the internet between January 1 and July 7, 2006 and March 1 and March 2, 2008.
Solicitor Andrew Rolfe tendered a reference and psychologist’s report and asked the court to take into account “the genuine remorse [Vardanega] feels about this”.
“He has lost his job. There will also be an impact upon his family. It’s a matter which will weigh heavily on him for a long time to come,” he said.
Mr Rolfe said the offences had occurred in two separate periods about 18 months apart and said his client had accessed the images but not downloaded, saved or distributed them.
Magistrate Terry Lucas said the images were of an extremely serious nature.
“These [child pornography] offences are some of the most serious to come before the Local Court,” he said.