A BENDIGO business owner who downloaded almost 400 images of child pornography, including child sex slaves images, has been registered as a sex offender for eight years.Garry Phillips, 58, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in Bendigo Magistrates Court on Wednesday.Magistrate Felicity Broughton heard between April 20, 2010, and May 3, 2010, Phillips viewed 398 images of child pornography.Police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Dave Somerton told the court the pornography included child sex slaves and child sex acts with a child and an adult.He said Phillips used the search engine Google to find the images and some searches lasted between 15 minutes to an hour. The searches were done after business hours when he was alone. When interviewed by police Phillips said he had looked at the images out of curiosity.The court heard the child pornography was found by a computer company when Phillips donated the computer to the company for a computer upgrade.Ms Broughton said despite Phillips privately looking at the images he needed to know every image was a crime scene and every one of the children were being abused.She said people like Phillips provided a market for child pornography. “Some of the images were of sadistic and abject behaviour to the most vulnerable children,” she said.Ms Broughton said the permanent damage done to the children was well known and the impact was devastating.“This sort of industry doesn’t exist without an end user,” she said. “People who view these images provide a market.”Ms Broughton said the court and community had a responsibility to care for the most vulnerable members of the community.She said Phillips must understand why possession of child pornography attracted such disgust from the community.She said she was satisfied he was remorseful and at a low risk of reoffending.Phillips was sentenced to one month’s jail, wholly suspended for a year, and will be a registered sex offender for eight years.