A 42-year-old Australian-born man was given a suspended jail term yesterday for possessing pornography of children under the age of nine.

Darren Anthony Azzopardi from Pietà admitted to the single charge of possessing child pornography on two hard disks on May 23, 2008 and in the preceding months.

Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani said she took into consideration the fact that the accused had admitted to the charges at an early stage of the proceedings and that he had a clean police record. She handed down a one-year jail term suspended for three.

The magistrate also ordered that Mr Azzopardi be treated by a psychologist for a year with no less than one session per month and be supervised by a probation officer.

Mr Azzopardi's arraignment follows that of a 21-year-old man on similar charges after investigations by the police Cyber Crime Unit and the Vice Squad as part of a Europe-wide anti-child porn operation in December. He had also been given a one-year jail term suspended for three.

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