Source : Perth Now news
An Australia’s Got Talent star convicted of child sex offences could be back on the streets by early next year after his sentence was cut.
Genesis Cerezo was ordered to serve at least seven years and six months in jail after pleading guilty to charges including possessing child abuse material and using a child over the age of 14 to make that material.
He shot to fame as a beatboxer who made it all the way to the Australia’s Got Talent grand final in 2012.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Natalie Adams quashed Cerezo’s original sentence, saying he was remorseful and suggesting the original sentencing judge made a “mistake of fact” in November 2024.
Double counting images and videos meant Cerezo was inadvertently deemed to be a “mid-range” offender when he should have been given a lower category and a lesser sentence, the appeal judges found.
Cerezo admitted to storing “explicit (material) of pre-pubescent females, including toddlers and babies, engaged in various sexual poses and/or activity”.
The accused also manipulated a 15-year-old girl into believing she was “modelling” for him, and over a few months there were several photo shoots with the girl as the subject in “sexually explicit poses”.
During a search of his home, police also found a knife, a “gel blaster pistol with a magazine” and a baton, all of which Cerezo had no licence or permit for.
However, Justice Adams resentenced Cerezo on the basis he was remorseful and showed a willingness to engage in programs while in prison.
“The sentencing judge found that there was ‘some’ remorse,” she said.
“Despite the fact that the applicant did not give evidence at the proceedings on sentence, I would resentence him on the basis that he is remorseful.”
Cerezo’s sentence was reduced to an aggregate non-parole period of five years and three months and, with time served, he will be eligible for parole on March 21, 2027.
