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It is “hard to understand” why a “privileged” South Australian cardiologist was found with “deviant, distressing and disturbing” child exploitation material on his mobile phone and disturbing sex messages, a court has heard.

Andrew Douglas McGavigan, 49, was arrested on December 7, 2020 after SA Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) officers raided his Hawthorn home and found the abusive material on his iPhone X.

His mobile had a user-controlled encrypted cloud storage app installed, where 9235 images or videos had been downloaded over a 17-day period from September 22 to October 9 last year.

Only 4061 files were able to be examined by officers.

Adelaide District Court heard the ”predominant” amount depicted abusive material.

Officers also discovered messages between McGavigan and other people discussing engaging in sexual activities with children in Thailand via messaging apps Skype and Line between May 31 and December 6, 2020.

The heart surgeon later pleaded guilty to one count each of accessing and possessing child abuse material and using a carriage service in a harassing or offensive way.

McGavigan was on Monday sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment with a non parole period of 12 months.

Judge Julie McIntyre noted the defendant had no prior criminal history or drug or alcohol dependency and believed he had reasonable prospects for rehabilitation, was remorseful and unlikely to reoffend.

She also said his early guilty pleas, prior good character, financial loss, strong family support and active engagement with treatment were the reasons for his “slightly lower” non parole period.

The judge also noted McGavigan’s work made a large contribution to the community, but said he “took on too much” which “took its toll” on his physical and mental health.

She said it was “so much harder to understand” why a person of his calibre would participate in such “abhorrent” behaviour.

“On the face of things you led a charmed and privileged life,” Judge McIntyre said.

“Why would a successful family man who devoted his life to medicine seek out this particularly abhorrent material?

“Until these offences came to light, you were highly respected for both your professional skill and non-clinical areas.”

The court heard McGavigan likely suffered a chronic adjustment disorder with depressive moods at the time of his offending; but the judge said it “barely provided an excuse” and the motivation behind his offending remained unexplained.

She said McGavigan was “persistent” when communicating via the online messaging apps, asking if the recipient could source a young female in exchange for money, or whether they could portray as a child for online sexual role-play.

The court also heard the images saved in McGavigan’s Mega account were “explicit” and “abrupt”.

“The material I saw was deviant, distressing and disturbing, with many of the children involved being subjected to violent forms of abuse … those children showed obvious fear and distress,” Judge McIntyre said.

“By accessing and possessing this material, you encouraged and added to the abuse of these unfortunate children.”

In a pre-sentence hearing, Heath Barklay SC, for the defence, argued his client committed the offending while suffering from undiagnosed depression, sleep deprivation, over work and personal and work stressors.

He said “escapism” was the driver for his client’s offending, and that he was emotionally attracted to the “taboo nature” of the material, rather than being sexually attracted to children.

The lawyer asked the judge to impose a suspended sentence or home detention.

But prosecutor Jeff Powell said immediate jail time was the only appropriate sentence and argued McGavigan was aware his “deliberate” offending was “wrong and illegal”.

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