Sutherland Shire grandfather Bruce Mitchelson accessed child abuse material due to ‘curiosity’ during Covid-19

A court has been told the reason why grandfather convicted of accessing child abuse material decided to access it in the first place.

A Sydney grandfather accessed child abuse material during the Covid-19 pandemic because he “had too much spare time”, a court has been told.

Bruce John Mitchelson, 65, faced the Downing Centre District Court on Friday, where he was convicted of possessing 527 files of child abuse material and five videos of bestiality material.

The Sutherland Shire man sat in the dock and stared blankly as Judge Kara Shead sentenced him to a term of 20 months imprisonment, which was immediately suspended and to be served in the community on the condition he pay $5000.

The court was told Mitchelson said he first accessed the material, which involved children as young as three years old, in 2020, due to “curiosity”.

Bruce John Mitchelson was sentenced to 20 months’ jail immediately suspended after a trove of child abuse material was found on his phone. Picture: NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Mitchelson, a Sydney City Council worker, was arrested in September 2023 after NSW Police received a tip-off from Facebook after Mitchelson had allegedly uploaded child abuse material to the site, the court was told.

A search warrant was executed and Mitchelson’s Samsung mobile phone was seized, where police found multiple child abuse photos and videos that were downloaded from the internet and saved to his phone gallery.

Mitchelson told police he begun engaging in online forums which exchanged child abuse material in 2020, admitting he “went down a rabbit hole”, the court was told.

Mitchelson also admitted when accessing the material and engaging in the online forums it “maybe seemed like a good idea at the time”, but said his interest in it was like “looking at a car crash, you can’t look away”.

He denied, however, ever touching or attempting to meet up with a child, telling police he “couldn’t live with himself”.

In her sentencing, Judge Kara Shead described the offending as “abhorrent”, however, noted Mitchelson had “expressed genuine feelings of shame and remorse”.

“I find beyond reasonable doubt he had a sexual interest in children,” she said.

The court was told Mitchelson (centre) first accessed the material due to ‘curiosity’. Picture: NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Mrs Shead noted crimes of this nature are “callous and predatory”, and inflict “terrible harm to swarms of vulnerable children”.

The court was told in the defences’ submission, led by barrister Adam Williams, how Mitchelson had a troubled childhood, but until recently had not sought any mental health treatment.

Since his arrest, however, he has been working closely with a psychiatrist, with his sister and mother both noting they had seen a “significant improvement” since he began engaging in treatment.

Among the strict conditions outlined by the court, Mitchelson is not to travel interstate or overseas unless he has received written permission to do so.

Among other conditions, he is not to go within 50 metres of a school or playground, not to be in the company of any persons under the age of 18 years old, is to surrender his mobile phone to police for inspection upon request and is to engage with counselling.

His sentencing comes more than a decade after Mitchelson earned the title of Sydney’s ‘most bizarre car’ owner for covering his Toyota Corolla with hundreds of stuffed toys.

Among the toys were well known characters such as Kermit the Frog and Cronulla Sharks toys.