Simon Feuerherdt handed a suspended sentence for possessing child exploitation material

A man caught with vile child exploitation files on his work phone, including children as young as six, told his employer his ex must have planted the material.

A father who tried to falsely blame his ex-partner for his sinister secret eventually admitted he had developed a curiosity for child exploitation material.

Simon John Feuerherdt, 45, is “deeply ashamed” of the dozens of vile images he downloaded, including of children as young as six.

The Adelaide District Court last week heard police attended Feuerherdt’s Waterloo Corner home on July 27, 2019 and analysed his work phone.

They found 65 aggravated child exploitation images – where the child is aged under 14 – and 81 basic images, in categories 1, 3, 4 and 5.

Category 5 on the Oliver scale – which forms the basis on which child exploitation images and videos are graded – is where a child is subjected to sadism, torture, bestiality or humiliation.

“They feature children as young as six years old engaged in sexual activity,” Judge Geraldine Davison said during sentencing.

“Further search terms consistent with you searching for child exploitation material were also observed on your phone.”

Feuerherdt attended a meeting with his employer on August 28, 2019 and said he had an explanation for the offending.

He said he had split up from his partner and his daughter had come to visit him three months prior.

“She brought with her a backpack that contained a USB from her mother,” Judge Davison said of Feuerherdt’s lie to his employer.

“You plugged that USB into a phone via a connector and downloaded the contents of the USB on the phone and that contained images that should not have been there and you had never seen before.”

Simon Feuerherdt was handed a suspended sentence for possessing child exploitation material. Picture: File

Feuerherdt eventually admitted possession and pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material. His ex-partner was not involved in any wrongdoing.

“You accepted that the search terms referred to were entered by you, but you did so with the intention of finding material that was depicting 18 or 19-year-olds,” Judge Davison said.

“It was said that you stumbled across child exploitation material when you put in those search terms and developed a curiosity for it.”

The court heard Feuerherdt had a good employment history but lost his job when his offending was discovered.

“Your counsel made submissions that you are deeply ashamed about your offending and that you have not looked at any pornography since the time of your arrest,” Judge Davison said.

Judge Davison sentenced Feuerherdt to two years and four months jail, with a non-parole period of one year.

“Possession of child exploitation material is not a victimless crime … it is a crime because there is a market for this material,” she said.

It was suspended on a two year good behaviour bond, with supervision.