An 81-year-old paroled pedophile was searching for classical music on the internet when images of shirtless boys appeared on his computer, an Adelaide court has been told.
But Judge David Lovell said he had trouble accepting the submission made by defence lawyer Ralph Bleechmore on Wednesday in South Australia's District Court.
Prosecutor Carmen Matteo said Philip Corlett Carey should be jailed for possessing hundreds of child pornographic images.
While the images - many of shirtless boys - were in the least serious category, the judge ought to take into account Carey's long history of sexual offending, she said.
Carey, whose record dates back to the 1960s, has pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of child pornography.
Mr Bleechmore asked that Carey not be jailed, submitting that he had believed the images were lawful and not child pornography.
"During a search that was done of classical music, the term `shirtless' came up and that is how the material arrived on the computer," he said.
But Ms Matteo said Carey deliberately downloaded the material, looking for "safe images" and using search terms including `shirtless boys'.
"It does not make them any less pornographic."
The more benign images were given a context through the more provocative ones, she added.
"There is a long history of contact offending against children, followed by a long history of breaching orders and regimes designed to protect children from the behaviour he obviously engaged in," she said.
His moral culpability for procuring the images was increased by his stated recognition of the effects of his previous sexual offending against children.
Carey was on parole at the time for breaching pedophile restraining orders, Ms Matteo said.
Mr Bleechmore described the offending as "borderline activity", submitting that a person could be titillated or mildly interested in images, falling well short of the legislation's definitions.
Carey will be sentenced on March 11.
