Supreme Court denies Leeton's Alan Chesworth appeal over bestiality, child abuse material sentence

The Supreme Court has ruled the sentencing of Alan George Chesworth, once a stalwart of the Leeton community who was named its top citizen just four years ago, was sound despite his bid against the severity.

He has since been quietly stripped of the title.

The elderly Chesworth last year pleaded guilty to and was jailed for at least two years and one month for bestiality, possessing an unauthorised firearm, having and disseminating child abuse material and methamphetamine supply.

His attempt to appeal the sentence on grounds of judicial error and a claim it was "manifestly excessive" was last week quashed by three NSW Supreme Court justices, who agreed unanimously they would have imposed higher sentences.

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Chesworth's offending was exposed after the then 77-year-old took his computer to a technician, who discovered it contained child abuse material, for repairs in 2021. An unregistered air rifle and two bags of methamphetamine - with a combined weight of almost seven grams - were discovered at his home in the ensuing police investigation.

Electronic devices seized in the searches uncovered Chesworth had a sexual relationship with a co-offender - referred to by the court as Mr Harrison - and the pair had exchanged child abuse material involving prepubescent males over the encrypted app Telegram and used methamphetamine together.

Chesworth's phone also contained more than 13,000 images and 3000 videos containing child abuse material, District Court Judge Sean Grant said at sentencing. The majority of the images and one-third of the videos were classed as Interpol Baseline category one abuse material.

Investigators also discovered Chesworth possessed and had shared videos and pictures of him engaged in sex acts with Mr Harrison's dog.

In launching his bid appeal, Chesworth submitted there was no gratuitous cruelty to the dog and took issue with Judge Grant's categorisation of the bestiality offence as being "below the mid range" rather than low range.

That criticism was firmly rejected by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Rothman in his findings on Friday.

"The offence for which the court is required to indicate a sentence involved penetration, albeit by the animal, and required the animal to give sexual gratification to [Chesworth]," Justice Rothman said.

The child abuse material, while it was disseminated in three separate episodes to two other users, was in Chesworth's possession "for a substantial period of time".

While slightly above an indictable quantity, Justice Rothman took into account the methamphetamine was for "personal use and for sharing with his wife and a friend".

In considering the appeal, the Supreme Court heard in a psychiatric report Chesworth turned to drugs due to "the stress associated with the difficulties in his marriage" and he had since been diagnosed with an adjustment disorder, and substance abuse, paedophilic and zoophilia disorders.

Since his imprisonment, Chesworth has been employed as a sweeper and entered in courses including occupational health and safety, Justice Rothman said. He was also recently diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and at the time of applying for leave to appeal was 78 years old.

"It must be said that [Chesworth] was a person of good behaviour who engaged in charitable works prior to his offending," Justice Rothman remarked.

Leeton mayor Tony Reneker moved to have Chesworth stripped of his citizen of the year status last year, with the motion passing unanimously at the July council meeting.

While not naming him at the time, the council's recommendation was to revoke the honour to the 2019 Leeton citizen of the year in light of their being "criminally convicted and is serving time in jail".

Chesworth was nominated for the award for his wide-ranging efforts in the community with groups such as Rotary, JumpStart, the Leeton Presbyterian Church, Carols in the Park and the Riverina Men's Choir.

He was given a life membership to the Royal Agricultural Society for decades of voluntary service and was inducted into the Guernsey Walk of Fame in 2017.

While Chesworth's "prospects of rehabilitation are reasonable and I take into account his advanced age", jail was the only appropriate answer, Justice Rothman found. The appeal was ultimately dismissed.

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