David Dakessian avoids jail time after court accepts porn addiction led to accessing more than 22,000 files of ‘depraved’ child abuse material

A Sydney man has dodged jail time after pleading guilty to accessing and possessing more than 22,000 files of child abuse material.

David Dakessian, also known as David Fannoun, faced Sydney’s Central Court on Friday to be sentenced on a single count each of using of using a carriage service to access child abuse material and possessing child abuse material.

Facing a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment, the 21-year-old appeared dejected from inside the courtroom’s glass dock until he was granted a two-year recognizance release order — an order that keeps him out of jail but requires him to be of good behaviour.

Dakessian had a number of supporters in court, one of whom appeared to faint from relief after the judge confirmed he was staying out of prison.

Dakessian exhaled in as he was released from the dock, embracing teary court attendees before going outside to see the woman who fell unconscious.

His sentence came after Chief Justice Sarah Huggett described Dakessian’s offending as “distressing, abhorrent, and depraved”.

At the time of his arrest at a home in Epping on September 5, 2024, the then 19-year-old was found to have access to 22,519 files involving the abuse of children aged from very young babies to young teenagers.

Detailed descriptions of several of the 11,405 videos Dakessian were read out to the court, but are too graphic for publication.

He was also in possession of three videos and an image found on his phone, the description of which Huggett refused to read aloud.

Dakessian had been on police’s radar since December, 2022, after he was identified accessing the files with an email account that featured his family’s name.

“That method show some planning, but unsophisticated as it did include the family surname and both accounts were subscribed in the offenders name,” Huggett said.

Further investigations found Dakessian had access to the files since February 25, 2024, but had come after years of a crippling pornography addiction.

Reports from psychologists and forensic psychologists produced to the court revealed Dakessian had unrestricted access to the internet since the age of nine, leading to him accessing adult websites at the age of 11.

Already socially isolated, he then retreated away from his family and further into internet spaces and online gaming communities.

The withdrawal and leaving school in Year 10 accelerated his addiction into kinks such as BDSM (bondage, domination, sadism, and masochism) and was watching adult content about three hours every day after leaving school in Year 10.

However, Dakessian said he was never sexually aroused by the child abuse content and instead had a morbid curiosity with the material — partially because he knew it was “wrong” and had become desensitised to sexual content.

Huggett said that immediate release on recognizance only occurs in “exceptional circumstances”, finding Dakessian’s case to qualify.

Dakessian spent less than two months in custody.

Huggett ruled his best chance of becoming a functioning member of society would be for him to continue receiving mental health services and rehabilitation specific to child abuse material.

He has been required to report to police, continue engaging with mental health and rehabilitation services and is unable to travel interstate or overseas without written permission.