A man waiting to be deported from Australia for possessing thousands of abusive images of children illegally downloaded disturbing photographs and videos while in detention.
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Tapani Henrik Hakkinen, 46, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane District Court on Thursday to possessing child exploitation material.
The serial offender had already served 21 months in prison after being caught with almost 12,000 child abuse images in 2017.
After serving his full prison term, the Finnish national's visa was cancelled and he was placed into immigration detention awaiting deportation.
While in detention, Hakkinen secured two phones and immediately started to download child exploitation material, the court was told.
The abusive material was only discovered in March 2019 by another detainee after Hakkinen left the phones in a communal area of the detention centre.
Crown prosecutor Evan O'Hanlon-Rose said authorities discovered more than 5855 images of child abuse and 222 videos depicting child abuse.
"There has been a serious escalation in the seriousness of the offending," Mr O'Hanlon-Rose told the court.
Judge David Reid, who also sentenced Hakkinen in 2017, said he clearly did not understand the seriousness of the offences and could not control himself.
"It is stunning. He has done it once and when he is in immigration detention he does it a second time," Judge Reid said.
He expressed particular concern over Hakkinen's belief he had done nothing wrong and the offences were "like going fishing" to him.
"Every image of every child that you had in your possession ... every one of those children was exploited in the most appalling way."
Defence barrister Jann Taylor said Hakkinen moved to Australia when he was five, had no support network in Finland and did not speak the language.
Judge Reid said Hakkinen's deportation was inevitable.
"This is not a victimless crime. You have done something appalling. You have given succour to an industry whose sole purpose is to exploit children in the most offensive way possible.
"Quite frankly, the sooner you are deported, the better."
Judge Reid also urged Australian authorities to notify Finland of Hakkinen's history.
"It is imperative that the Australian border forces and police advise their international equivalents in Finland of your predilections for these things so they can monitor your phones for similar appalling conduct in the abuse of young children."
Hakkinen was handed an 18-month suspended sentence which took into account his period in immigration detention.
The order means Hakkinen can be deported almost immediately, depending on COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Australian Associated Press
