A father-of-five who downloaded hundreds of sickening child abuse images was only caught after pawning his phone at a Cash Converters.
Robert Marinus Hart, 48, from Seacombe Gardens in Adelaide, was spared jail in the District Court of South last week, despite police discovering 632 child abuse images on his old phone, with around half of them in the most serious category possible.
Hart pleaded guilty to the offence of aggravated possession of child exploitation material and was handed a suspended sentence of one year and eight months, with the first year to be served under home detention.
In sentencing, Judge Joana Fuller revealed the depraved dad was the ‘author of his own demise’ when he was caught after pawning his Samsung phone to a Cash Converters on 10 May 2022.
A store employee discovered the horrifying images and alerted police who raided Hart’s home and arrested him.
Hart was only caught after pawning his Samsung phone to a Cash Converters on 10 May 2022 (stock image)
The court heard he told police he first came across the images on Snapchat.
‘You saw some s on Snapchat for child pornography which you began clicking on and which contained images of child pornography which you then screenshotted thus saving the images,’ Judge Fuller said.
‘You said the images were for your personal use only and you did not intend to send them to anyone else. You told police they were young girls 11 or 12 years upwards.’
Hart told a psychologist he was ‘curious’ about the images but denied he had a sexual interest in them.
‘Once the search revealed images of children you should have stopped looking but you did not,’ the Judge said.
‘The irresistible inference from the fact that you screenshotted the images is that you wished to retain them because you did have a sexual interest in them.’
The court heard that Hart’s current partner, with whom he shares a two-year-old daughter, had written a letter in support of him.
‘She said you are a caring and attentive father and that your daughter adores you,’ the Judge said.
‘You are the breadwinner and she relies upon you financially but also emotionally. She said you are extremely remorseful for your offending.’
Hart, who is a regular marijuana smoker, works as a driver for a traffic management firm.
He is yet to tell his employer of his offending, the court heard.
Robert Marinus Hart, 48, from Seacombe Gardens in Adelaide, was spared jail in the District Court of South last week, despite police discovering 632 child abuse images on his old phone, with around half of them in the most serious category possible (stock image)
Hart has been ordered to attend rehabilitation programs.
‘It has been said time and time again that child exploitation material is a serious social evil, ‘ the Judge said.
‘Courts have to recognise how serious it is and do what they can to protect children from being exploited and exploited again and again in such a way.
‘It is not, as many people seem to think, a victimless crime.’