A Goulburn man has escaped a prison sentence for sending indecent images to a 12-year-old girl on social media accounts.
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The 21-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to send indecent material to a person aged under sixteen.
Goulburn Local Court heard on Wednesday, July 15 that between May and November, 2018 at Bowral, the man used Instagram and mobile text messages to exchange explicit images and video with the Year Six girl.
In December, 2017 they began communication via Instagram and text message. This continued until June 2018, then stopped. The court heard the communication recommenced the following November when the man wrote on Instagram: "Maybe I can get a video of you in the shower next."
Intercepted messages revealed later that evening the man sent three photos of his genitals to the victim via Instagram and a video showing him masturbating himself.
Also in November 2018, the victim's mother confiscated her daughter's phone. The court heard she found numerous photos of her daughter depicted topless and of the man's genitals. The mother reported the matter to police who seized the 12-year-old's phone.
Police arrested the man at his Goulburn home in September, 2019.
Solicitor Sam Rowland said his client had no prior offences on his record and that he had entered an early guilty plea. This entitled him to leniency, he argued. His client had been on bail since his arrest in September, 2019.
"This offence is not to be confused with using indecent material to groom a young person," Mr Rowland said.
His client had fully complied with bail conditions, attended every court appearance and understood the seriousness of the offence.
Mr Rowland asked that the man be given a suspended sentence rather than a custodial term, which the offence carried. He stressed that his client had not had any further contact with the victim.
"Regarding the objective seriousness of the offence, my submission is it falls to the lower end of the scale. It is not at the lowest end but it is not above the mid-scale," Mr Rowland said.
He told the court there was not a "remarkably high" number of images exchanged and the age differential between the pair was not as great as a 50-year-old exchanging images with a 10-year-old.
"The offence was fairly unsophisticated. [My client] used his own social media accounts," Mr Rowland said.
He said his client had acknowledged in a sentencing assessment that the offence was "gross and dirty" and conceded the girl was "too young to know better, but I should have known better".
Mr Rowland said that his client had left school in Year 9 and had struggled academically. He was currently unemployed but had a willingness to work.
He requested a suspended sentence for his client.
Police prosecutor Simone Foggo said the man "realised the wrongfulness of his action but not at the time". She said the matter called for imprisonment but agreed a discount for his early plea could apply.
In sentencing, Magistrate Beattie took the early guilty plea into account. She said it was not just a matter of sending one image, but four.
She said the victim was "clearly not of a maturity to decide on her sexuality and how she expresses that".
"The matter has the capacity for significant harm," Magistrate Beattie said.
She told the court there was a need to protect young people from such behaviour and this was made clear by legislation.
"These are really serious matters and the court takes them seriously," she said.
Magistrate Beattie imposed a 12-month suspended jail sentence and an 18-month good behaviour bond. She warned him that if he breached this bond the matter would come back to court and the prison term could apply.
She also imposed a $1000 bond and ordered that the Goulburn man accept the supervision of the Community Corrections Service for as long as deemed necessary.
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