‘Favourite’: PHD student’s wild excuse over ‘depraved’ alleged child abuse material

The optometry student and part-time Uber driver allegedly marked 42 of the files as “favourites” with a magistrate labelling the material as “disturbing”.

A UNSW optometry PhD student who allegedly had 25,000 files of child abuse on his phone told police he saved the material because he wanted to report it to the authorities, a court has heard.

Part-time Uber driver Ali Alghamdi, 35, faced Waverley Local Court on Tuesday after being arrested at the uni’s Randwick campus on Monday.

Senior Federal Prosecutor Melanie Tam told the court the material was “depraved” and involved children from ages two to four.

Ms Tam said the material was found on “encrypted messaging” and “cloud” applications.

One email account Mr Alghamdi “admitted to owning and controlling,” was connected to a cloud service that contained almost 650 gigabytes worth of child abuse material, the court heard.

Magistrate Barko said Mr Alghamdi, who is a Saudi national, had “no real ties” to Australia other than his PhD. Picture: Facebook

Mr Alghamdi currently lives in Waterloo in Sydney. Picture: Facebook

Mr Alghamdi initially told police he was unaware the material was in his possession, before claiming he had saved the files as he wished to “report” it to the authorities, the court heard.

“He gave an explanation that is not plausible,” she told the court.

Magistrate Michael Barko refused bail, stating that Mr Alghamdi was an “extreme” flight risk given he was on a student visa.

“This is really disturbing, perturbing material,” Magistrate Barko said.

“This was no accidental, well-intended recording or peaking at the material … this was something the defendant favoured.

“I am satisfied that there is an unacceptable risk.”

Mr Alghamdi was undertaking his PhD in optometry. Picture: UNSW Sydney

In attempting to have his client’s bail granted, Lawyer Hisham Karnib argued that Mr Alghamdi was not at risk of further offending, and he had last accessed the material in 2023. Mr Karnib refused to make a statement outside court.

“We won’t be making a comment,” he told reporters.

Arrest at UNSW

Mr Alghamdi, who was undertaking a PhD in optometry, was arrested at UNSW about 3pm Monday following a NSW Police investigation into online child abuse material.

Police allege Mr Alghamdi had marked 42 of the files as “favourites”.

He was taken from the uni campus to Maroubra Police Station and charged with using a carriage service to access child abuse material.

Mr Alghamdi was arrested at the uni’s Randwick campus on Monday. Picture: News Corp Australia

According to his UNSW bio page, Mr Alghamdi worked as an optometrist for three years at a general hospital in Saudi Arabia before arriving at UNSW to pursue a master’s degree.

His Facebook page states he is a “research assistant” for UNSW.

In a statement to news.com.au, UNSW said Mr Alghamdi had been “immediately suspended”.

“UNSW Sydney is aware a PhD student has been arrested and charged,” the statement said.

“The University has immediately suspended the student from campus and their studies, pending further investigations under UNSW procedures.

“As the matter is before the courts it would be inappropriate for UNSW to comment further.”

The court heard how his wife had arrived in Sydney six weeks ago, with the pair living in Waterloo.

The matter will next appear in court on September 23.

Is there a case we should be covering? Contact our reporter at [e-mail] or let us know anonymously here.