Marcus Georgiou: Army veteran charged with possessing child abuse material

An army veteran allegedly tried to delete thousands of child abuse images but police found the 480-gigabyte hard drive stashed in his south Sydney garage. Find out what happened when he sought bail.

An army veteran has been allegedly found with thousands of child abuse images stored on a hard drive he stashed in his garage upon learning police were onto him.

Marcus Andrew Georgiou, 46, appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Friday where he was granted bail after being charged with possessing child abuse material, custody of a knife and custody of a prohibited weapon.

The court heard police received information about the alleged possession of child abuse material at Georgiou’s Kareela address, where he lives with his elderly parents.

Police were granted a search warrant and on Thursday morning found a 480-gigabyte hard drive which Georgiou had allegedly removed from a computer, put into a backpack and hidden in a garage.

Marcus Andrew Georgiou, 46, appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Friday September 2, 2022 where he was granted bail after being charged with possessing child abuse material, custody of a knife and prohibited weapon. Picture: Facebook

Police allege Georgiou attempted to delete items after he was told police were investigating his online activity.

Details were not revealed on how he was tipped off to police investigating him.

After completing a preliminary investigation, police allege there were thousands of photos that constituted child abuse material and a 54 minute video of 13-year-old boys and girls, the court heard.

They also found printed A4 images allegedly constituting child abuse material.

Georgiou allegedly showed police where the hard drive was located, gave his IP address and made admissions to downloading the material in April and possessing it.

Police also allegedly found a machete knife and an extendable baton in his car when he was arrested at Gymea about 9am on Thursday.

In court, a police prosecutor said the case was “strong” given the alleged admissions made to police.

The prosecutor said there was a strong likelihood Georgiou would be sentenced to full-time custody if convicted and there was a risk of him committing further offences if granted bail.

Police indicated they may lay further charges related to the upload and dissemination of a child abuse material to a website, the court heard.

Marcus Georgiou will next appear in court on September 19.

Georgiou’s defence lawyer said her client did not have a criminal history and it was therefore not inevitable Georgiou would receive a full-time custodial sentence if convicted.

She said he also had post traumatic stress disorder arising from his serving in the Australian Defence Force where he was deployed to an army station in the Solomon Islands.

The lawyer told the court Georgiou saw his colleague die in front of him, resulting in him being sent home and hospitalised due to the mental trauma.

The court heard Georgiou stopped working for the army in 2006 after which his mental health declined further, his marriage broke down and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and PTSD in 2009.

The lawyer said Georgiou took medication and received a depot injection, as well as attended his GP but was not on a mental health plan.

The lawyer submitted her client would be a “vulnerable person” in custody and his mental health would better be treated in the community.

Georgiou’s lawyer also said her client could live with his elderly parents, who he cared for and completed daily tasks, with his mother supporting him in court.

Magistrate Phillip Stewart granted bail noting he could reside with his parents, report to police daily, not enter an international point of departure and not access or possess any device that has internet capabilities and can only have one mobile phone that can’t connect to WiFi.

The case was adjourned to September 19.