A Tasmanian computer technician, who referred to himself as “a beast” has been caught in possession of 31,000 illegal images – including graphic bestiality and child pornography.
Rodney Scott McLagan, of South Arm, was sentenced to a four month jail term and fined $1500 after pleading guilty for the possession of the illegal pornography.
The cache of images contained human sex acts with dogs, snakes, tigers, ponies and an octopus.
30 percent of the images found were of child pornography, but Hobart Supreme Court Justice David Porter said only 20 percent of those images were actually viewed by McLagan.
"Your interests lie in the bestiality material," Justice Porter said in sentencing.
A psychiatric assessment of McLagan found that the 48-year-old suffers from an avoidant personality disorder, chronic social anxiety and loneliness, and does not have the opportunity for normal sexual relationships, the court was told.
Justice Porter said: "It also emerges from the report that you are particularly self-conscious about your teeth".
"One of the consequences of all of this in your case is that you equate yourself with a beast, reflecting the level of your self-esteem.
"It is that which motivated your accessing the material you did."
Following the jail term, he will be placed on a community protection offender register for four years.