Brendan Nazer: Found with 25 child abuse videos on phone, avoids jail

A 20-year-old man has dodged an immediate jail term after police found more than two dozen child abuse videos on his phone.

A South Australian man caught with more than 20 videos containing child exploitation material on his mobile phone has avoided jail time.

Brendan Nazer, 20, appeared in the Adelaide District Court on Monday after previously pleading guilty to two counts of possessing child exploitation material, one of them being aggravated.

Police searched his home on August 2 and found the mobile phone in his bedroom contained 25 abusive video files, with 17 of them depicting children under the age of 14.

The court heard he admitted to police during an interview that he downloaded, viewed and saved the files about two to three months prior.

But he said he intended to delete them or report them to police and “it slipped his mind” after experiencing the loss of a loved one, according to sentencing remarks.

“Given the material was on your phone and you had saved the files, I do not accept that,” Judge Adam Kimber said.

“You told (a psychologist) you were not sexually aroused by the material and that you had no sexual interest in children.

“Given that you saved the files, your background and your failure to call evidence relevant to the absence of such an interest, I am also unable to accept that.”

Nazer was sentenced in Adelaide’s District Court on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dean Martin

Judge Kimber said child exploitation material was “a serious social evil” and that the culprit and others in the community needed to understand that child exploitation crimes were not victimless.

“Despite your cooperation with the police, your remorse and early pleas, I am satisfied that there remains a need to deter you.”

During his sentencing, the court heard Nazer was sexually abused at the age of seven and allegedly committed sexual offending while he was a child himself.

The man experienced a mixed anxiety depressive disorder at the age of 15 and has been placed on a mental health care plan by a GP.

“Your history of having been offended against and having allegedly offended against the younger child, might offer some explanation for why you viewed and saved the material,” the judge told the court.

“While it might be some explanation, it also gives rise to a very real concern that you have not addressed your interest in such material and pose a risk of reoffending.”

The judge said he was advised by a psychologist that Nazer would benefit from psychological treatment that was specific for abuse victims and offenders which was “unlikely to be available” if jailed.

Nazer was handed down a sentence of two years and one month imprisonment with a non-parole period of 13 months, but it was wholly suspended and he was ordered to pay a $500 two-year good behaviour bond.

The court heard Nazer, who currently works as the manager of a major fast food chain, expected to lose his job once his sentence was handed down.

Originally published as Brendan Nazer: Found with 25 child abuse videos on phone, avoids jail