Bateau Bay: Peter John Cincotta, 59, guilty of sourcing hundreds of child abused images/videos

A man busted with hundreds of sickening child abuse images and videos on his laptop told police “it was just curiosity more than anything”, a court has heard.

Peter Cincotta pleaded guilty to accessing and possessing child abuse material which he downloaded from a file sharing network. (File image)

A man who used a peer-to-peer file sharing app to access and download hundreds of graphic child sexual abuse images and videos told police it was “curiosity” which got the better of him, a court has heard.

Peter John Cincotta, 59, of Bateau Bay, appeared via video link from custody at Wyong Local Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to two offences of using a carriage service to access and possess child abuse material.

An agreed set of facts state police raided Cincotta’ Redgum Close house on January 11 last year where they seized an Acer laptop under the bedside table in his room.

When he was cautioned by police, Cincotta said he had “an idea of what it’s all about”.

“It was just curiosity more than anything,” he told police.

A forensic examination of his laptop found of the nearly 1000 files, 421 of those were child abuse material.

Cincotta faced Wyong Local Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty. (file image)

Further checks revealed Cincotta had been using a free peer-to-peer file sharing networking application to “search for and download files depicting child abuse material”, the facts state.

Cincotta accessed the app 19 times between November 24, 2024 and his arrest just under two months later.

Cincotta accessed the app 19 times in under two months. (File picture)

“During the offending period the offender accessed a total of 294 files depicting child abuse material being 204 images and 91 videos,” the facts state.

“The child abuse material accessed by the offender depicted real pre-pubescent female and male children involved in sexual acts with real male and female adults.

“A large majority of the child abuse material files accessed by the offender had explicit and descriptive titles which reference the participants age and nature of sexual activity they are engaged in.”

The facts state he used search terms such as “milking 10yo girls”, “sex with middle grade girls” and “10yo boy takes 2 cocks”.

Cincotta will remain before bars until he is sentenced next Thursday.

“The child abuse material videos depicted young female and male children around 5-11 years of age, naked and performing sexual acts on real adult males,” the facts state.

Cincotta said little while his Legal Aid solicitor entered the guilty pleas on his behalf while another three charges were withdrawn and dismissed.

His bail was formally refused and he will remain in custody until he faces Gosford District Court on March 6 to fix a sentence date.