A former nurse charged over "horrific" child abuse material she surrendered to police was "trying to play cop", a court has heard.
Chelsea Amalia Crivici, aged in her late 20s, faced the ACT Supreme Court on Monday for a sentence hearing after previously pleading guilty to the charges.
"I have a history of making the wrong choices," she said while giving evidence.
Crivici claimed all the child abuse material she possessed, in the form of images and videos, was sent to her by a male co-offender.
The woman, who is said to have held onto the material she claimed belonged to her "friend" for five months, denied having any sexual interest in children.
"I didn't really know what to do. I knew it was horrific," Crivici said.
"I didn't want to ruin someone's life before I really wrapped my head around it."
Commonwealth prosecutor Laura Hannigan questioned Crivici about 11 pieces of child abuse material she is accused of independently sending to the co-offender via WhatsApp.
"Some of those you obtained yourself," Ms Hannigan said.
Crivici responded that she never looked for the "disgusting" material herself and didn't even know how to.
"I was being an idiot. I was trying to play cop," she said.
"I thought that if I kept it on me then at least if I went to police I'd have something to prove what was going on."
Asked why she eventually turned the material and herself in to police, Crivici said her friend came to her home one night talking about something that "sounded a lot more like a plan than fantasy".
"I couldn't sit on that anymore. There was an actual, immediate danger," she said.
"I wouldn't be able to live with myself."
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson said on Monday the fact that Crivici turned herself into the police was "very much to her credit".
"What happened should never have happened. You know these are appalling offences," the judge said.
"But it is also important that you actually went to the police."
The court heard Crivici no longer had a fixed address after her parents stopped helping her with rent.
"They don't want to be involved anymore," she said on Monday.
Justice Loukas-Karlsson ordered a pre-sentence report that included an intensive correction order assessment.
Crivici is set to return to court in June for sentencing.
