A disgraced former Canberra Raiders star has dodged time behind bars over what a judge has characterised as a "patently absurd" scheme to source illicit drugs using "morally reprehensible" child abuse material.
Brett Finch's fall from grace came to completion on Wednesday, when he was sentenced in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court to two years in jail.
However, he avoided serving the term in full-time custody after Judge Phillip Mahony SC ordered his immediate release on a $1000 recognisance.
Finch, 41, had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of using a carriage service to make available child abuse material.
Judge Mahony detailed how the former footballer's life had "spiralled" after he retired from rugby league, which had given him purpose and structure, in 2013.
The judge said Finch used cocaine for the first time later that year and became addicted to the drug in "no time at all", leading to three stints in rehabilitation.
The court heard these all failed to keep Finch clean on a long-term basis and he was desperate to feed his addiction in November 2020, but his drug dealer had been locked up and others were not "on the roads" because of COVID-19.
Finch claimed to have been told by a woman, named Selina, about a time she had used a gay sex hotline called FastMeet to obtain illicit drugs.
During a sentence hearing last month, the former Raiders halfback told the court he decided to give this a go and leave "twisted" voice messages in order to provoke a reaction from people either on drugs or with access to them.
Between November 2020 and January 2021, Finch rang the hotline six times and left a total of seven messages later classified as child abuse material.
"Each contained what could only be described as highly depraved and sexualised content," Judge Mahony said on Wednesday, noting one of them had attracted the attention of a convicted child sex offender.
The judge said Finch had made "frankly disgusting remarks", which he would not repeat, about sexual fantasies that involved the abuse of teenage boys.
Finch denied having any sexual interest in children, describing the messages as "shit talk" and acknowledging he had never discussed drugs in any of them.
Nevertheless, his claims were backed by a psychologist, Dr Chris Lennings, who testified that Finch had experienced "an epiphany" and stopped using the chat line after he came into contact with a man the 41-year-old called "a sick f---".
Prosecutors argued Finch's conduct indicated the offender was indeed sexually interested in children, and that his crime had been motivated by gratification.
But Judge Mahony ultimately accepted Finch's claims, noting most of the offending had occurred during drug-fuelled binges that took place between 12am and 7am.
He described Finch's ill-fated attempts to obtain more drugs as "patently absurd, with no hope of success".
"[The offending] could only have been borne out of desperation ... to feed his addiction," the judge said.
Judge Mahony added that he had generally been impressed with the evidence of Finch, who had expressed remorse for his "morally reprehensible" words and recognised the enormity of the ongoing struggle to kick his drug addition.
While federal child sex offences usually result in some period of full-time custody, Finch's lawyers argued exceptional circumstances should spare the former NSW State of Origin representative a stint behind bars.
Judge Mahony agreed a number of factors warranted this outcome, listing grounds including the low objective seriousness of the crime, Finch's lack of sexual attraction to children, and the availability of treatment in the community.
The judge also acknowledged the subtlety of Finch's motivation would be lost on hardened prisoners, who would probably think he was a paedophile and attempt to dish out "custodial retribution" if the 41-year-old was locked up.
Finch sat, looking solemn at the bar table, beside solicitor Paul McGirr throughout the hour-and-a-half it took Judge Mahony to sentence him.
He indicated he understood the judge's warning that any breaches of the recognisance release order, which includes treatment conditions and travel bans, might result in him becoming liable to serve his sentence behind bars.
Outside court, Mr McGirr told reporters there was "not much to say".
"This man does not have any sexual interest in children and, unfortunately, drugs have played a major part in ramblings of what they were, what he was saying," the lawyer said.
"It's just another example of the dangers of drugs and how far they can send someone down into a spiral ... Brett holds his head up and we'll move on."
Finch made his first grade debut for the Raiders at the age of 17 and played a total of 270 NRL games for Canberra, the Roosters, the Eels and the Storm.
