A former federal police employee who was found guilty of using Instagram to groom a child has avoided jail for the crime.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The 49-year-old man has not been named to protect the identity of the victim, who was the 11-year-old daughter of a woman he was dating.
On April 13 last year, the man had sent a message to the girl saying "I want to see your nude body", followed immediately by "Yes or no", and the jury found the man had sent the messages with the intention of making it easier to procure the child to engage in sexual activity with him.
The man, who was working with the Australian Federal Police in communications before resigning, had pleaded not guilty and denied it was him who sent the messages. But a jury rejected his defence and found him guilty of the crime after an ACT Supreme Court trial in June. Prosecutors labelled the man's claim his account had been hacked by the girl's brother or his ex-wife "ludicrous".
In sentencing remarks published this week, Justice Michael Elkaim said he agreed with the Crown that imprisonment should almost flow automatically from conviction for this kind of crime.
"The grooming of children for sexual gratification of a person, and possibly sexual assault of the child, is so reprehensible that prison should generally follow," the judge said.
But he said the case was one where there could be an exception to full time imprisonment.
The court had noted the man's lack of a criminal record and that the offence was below medium seriousness.
"I think a lengthy period of being subject to a supervision order will meet the community's interests as well as signify, by way of general deterrence, how seriously the courts look upon this type of conduct," the judge said.
Justice Elkaim sentenced the man to two years imprisonment, to be suspended immediately on the man entering a recognisance release order in the sum of $500 for three years.
