PICTURES of infants as young as three months old were among the 20,000 child pornographic images found on a Mount Helen man’s computer when police raided his home last year, a court has heard.
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Sean Colin Monagle, 20, was also found with almost 3000 videos of child pornography, much of which was traded using a peer-to-peer software program.
Monagle appeared in the County Court in Ballarat yesterday where he pleaded guilty to making available, accessing and knowingly possessing child pornography.
The court heard Monagle had downloaded and passed on child pornography material intermittently since the age of 14.
When police seized his computer, CDs and DVDs during the raid on his home last August, Monagle admitted to being the only one who had used them.
Commonwealth prosecutor Simone Tatas said the images ranged in their level of severity, and included depictions of sexual activity between children and adults, as well as bestiality, sadism and cartoon children in sexual situations.
She said the subjects of the content were aged between three months and 15 years old.
Ms Tatas said Monagle had accessed and traded the images and videos using software program GigaTribe, and in total he had 20,038 child pornographic images and 2901 videos stored on his computer.
The charges specifically related to Monagle’s use of his GigaTribe account between October 2010 and June 2011, however he admitted to police he had intermittently downloaded child pornography since he was 14.
Defence barrister Rob Devolle said his client had initially accessed the prohibited materials when searching for computer games and music videos.
“His involvement in the material came out of a degree of curiosity if nothing else,” Mr Devolle said, to which Judge Joe Gullaci expressed his disagreement.
“I thought it was for sexual gratification according to his record of interview,” Judge Gullaci said.
“Once you’ve seen the first video, what curiosity is there in the next one and the next one and the 2000 after that? He’s got 20,000 images, it’s not one or two or 10 or 50.”
Judge Gullaci adjourned sentencing to May 1 to enable a psychological report to be conducted, but said Monagle was looking at a jail term.
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