A "monster" childcare worker who committed "serious and degrading" sexual abuse against young children in his care should not be shown any leniency in sentencing, prosecutors have told an Adelaide court.
Bronte John Ciracovitch, 31, pleaded guilty to multiple child abuse charges last year, including maintaining a sexual relationship with a child and producing child abuse material.
Ciracovitch was working as an educator at a childcare centre in Adelaide's north when he was arrested in 2020.
In sentencing submissions in the District Court on Tuesday, Ciracovitch's defence lawyer Phil Crowe acknowledged his client had earlier tried to minimise his responsibility for the crimes.
But Mr Crowe said his client had since developed "insight" into his offending and had taken "full responsibility".
Mr Crowe said the "breach of trust" was "significant across the board", but that his client's offending had taken place over a relatively short period of time in 2020.
"Looked at globally, it seems he has offended … mainly in a two-month period, aged 30 years old."
The court heard Ciracovitch had himself been sexually abused as a child.
But prosecutor Renee Loveday said Ciracovitch's "serious abuse and degradation" of his victims meant the court should not show any leniency in its sentence.
"The victims [were] in the care of Mr Ciracovitch and in a vulnerable position," she told the court.
Prosecutors asked the court to impose cumulative sentences for Ciracovitch's crimes.
During a previous court hearing, the mother of one of Ciracovitch's victims described him as a "monster".
"I physically felt ill and guilt ridden that my son had previously alerted me to foul play and I hadn't picked up on the cues and protected him from the monster I was unknowingly subjecting him to daily," she told the court.
Ciracovitch will be sentenced next month.
