Former Farmer Wants A Wife contestant, Matthew Eric Goyder, has been jailed for the alleged possession and sharing of “vile” child sex abuse images and videos, some of which involved babies, news.com.au reports.
Goyder, who appeared on the reality show in 2016, was arrested last year after an online sting where he spoke to an undercover police officer and allegedly sent two videos of young girls being sexually abused.
Goyder believed he was chatting online to a 37-year-old woman, the West Australian District Court heard on Friday.
During a police search, a hard drive and laptop were found, containing more than 4000 images and videos of children being abused.
Judge Karen Shepherd said one clip showed “an extensive violation of a very young baby” and other files showed an infant, who couldn’t be more than six months of age, being raped.
She said the material was of “the utmost depravity and which depicts serious sexual abuse of children”.
“The imagery and the material generally is of a very graphic and very disturbing nature,” Judge Shepherd said.
“It’s, simply put, vile. It demonstrates, in my view, a high level of perversion and debauchery. It’s degrading.”
In his letter to the court, Matthew Eric Goyder took full responsibility for his actions and that he was “totally appalled and deeply ashamed” for what he had done.
The judge said, “You tell me in your letter that in 2015, you were fresh out of a four-month (drug) rehab stint in Thailand and in search for something to fill the void in your life, and that’s when you entered the TV reality show, genuinely seeking love and a relationship.”
“But the result was it shattered your self-confidence and you started taking more drugs until you spiralled out of control.”
The court heard that Matthew Eric Goyder also had mental health issues and had suffered a hypoxic brain injury in 2019.
The judge also noted that Matthew Eric Goyder had taken steps to rehabilitate himself and had “already been punished to a point” by the media attention on the case.
However, she said it was not a victimless crime.
“I have no doubt that there were multiple victims in the making of this material,” she said.
Matthew Eric Goyder, who pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material, was sentenced to two years in prison.
He must serve at least half the term before he can be eligible for parole.
