Director of Public Prosecutions v Conyers
[2023] VCC 1156
•14 June 2023
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR-21-02367
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| MICHAEL CONYERS |
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| JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR |
| WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
| DATE OF HEARING: | |
| DATE OF SENTENCE: | 14 June 2023 |
| CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Conyers |
| MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [202] VCC 1156 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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| Subject: | CRIMINAL LAW |
| Catchwords: | Using a carriage service to procure a person believed to be under 16 years of age – Using a carriage service to transmit indecent communications to a person believed to be under 16 years of age – Early plea of guilt – Offender had a difficult childhood – Was exposed to adult pornography at a young age – Prior criminal record – Low level risk for re-offending – Offender expressed great remorse. |
| Legislation Cited: | Commonwealth Criminal Code 1995 (Cth); Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004; Sentencing Act 199. |
| Cases Cited: | - |
| Sentence | 15 month’s Community Corrections Order, |
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| APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr J. Morrison | Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution |
For the Accused | Ms L. Buckby | Slink & Keating |
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT REPORTING SERVICE
(Prepared by Legal Transcripts Pty Ltd) 229636
HER HONOUR:
1Michael Conyers, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of using a carriage service to procure a person believed to be under 16 years of age contrary to sub-s474.26(1) of the Commonwealth Criminal Code and one charge of using a carriage service to transmit indecent communications to a person believed to be under 16 years of age contrary to sub-s474.27A(1) of the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
2The facts underlying your offending are as follows. Over a period of three months between 26 September and 27 December 2020 you used a Kik account with the username Mike G, during which you sent a series of communications to an undercover operative who was posing as a 14-year-old girl named Lucy. The purpose of messages appeared to be to procure "Lucy" to engage in sexual activity with yourself.
3There was an amount of conversation during which Lucy made it clear that she was 14 years of age. In the prosecution summary (which is annexed as an exhibit to these sentencing remarks) the various conversations between you had over that period of time were set out and I will not repeat them save to say they were of a highly sexually explicit nature. They included invitations to meet up from both sides in fact with the putative Lucy inviting you to undertake an activity such as mowing the lawn with her, you asking if she wanted to go to the beach. In any event it is these messages which underly Charge 1 on the indictment.
4Charge 2 relates to material sent by you to Lucy which was of an indecent nature including images of yourself with an erect penis and a video of you naked in a shower. The messaging ended on 27 December 2020 but in particular, between 2 November and 27 November 2020 there was less communication with you sporadically saying only "Hey" on 14 November and then finally again on 27 December when communication simply ceased.
5Police executed a search warrant at your home. You participated in a record of interview denying having a Kik account which was the account that you used, saying you had never used it, did not recall the email address which was attached to that account, said that you were the person depicted in the Kik profile picture but that it was one of your old display photographs.
6You admitted taking photographs and images of yourself but you said you sent them to a friend called Demy on Instagram. You said you had a spiteful ex-girlfriend who had previously made a fake Snapchat account in your name and basically said you had no explanation for the communications between your account and with Lucy. In other words, it was not a cooperative record of interview.
7This matter however resolved at a fifth committal mention on 5 November 2021 and you entered a plea of guilty to the charges. I now turn to your personal circumstances. You are now 31 years of age. You are the eldest of two children born to your parents. You have two half siblings with whom you have almost no contact. You had a difficult childhood in that both your parents were polysubstance abusers and from the age of 14 months you were brought up by your grandmother because of parental neglect.
8Eventually your younger sister was removed from your parents when she was seven. You spent every second weekend with your father but this was difficult as he was often drug affected and when you were 14 he died from a drug overdose. You had some contact with your mother over the years but she was engaged in criminal offending and you eventually ceased contact with her in about 2010 when she in fact involved you some of her offending which I will refer to later in the sentencing remarks.
9Your relationship with your grandmother ultimately became a loving one once you were an adult but you told psychologist Associate Professor Troy McEwan that when you were a child your relationship with your grandmother was distant
and you felt that she regarded you as a burden. You moved out from her home when you were 17 following an argument and for some time were homeless, sleeping on friends’ couches and occasionally sleeping rough. Eventually you lived with your then girlfriend's parents, obtained work and moved back to live with your grandmother, fixing up a bungalow in her back garden.
10It was at this stage, you told Professor McEwan, that the relationship with your grandmother improved markedly. You were bullied at primary school for not having parents and you told Professor McEwan you hated school, were always bored and were found to have a high IQ but only scraped through most subjects except for science for which you loved and at which you excelled. You were sent to a private Christian school but truanted and were eventually asked to leave in Year 9.
11You lived on Youth Allowance for a while and did nothing and then returned to TAFE at age 17 when you undertook an automotive electronics and multimedia certificate which you completed. You began casual work which became full time work at Autobarn and you have essentially worked there for 13 years. You have worked for a number of Autobarn stores around the metropolitan area and were a manager for two years until you took out a Fair Work action on behalf of underpaid employees and although this did not result in you being dismissed, you have not held a manager position since you have worked at the Cranbourne store for the last three and a half years where you get on well with your work colleagues. You apparently have a small social circle, mainly work colleagues and this appears to have been your style with friendship groups since you were at school.
12You told Professor McEwan you have had many girlfriends from about the age of 13 but three were meaningful relationships. From the age of 18 you had a two-year relationship with a girlfriend who was a stabilising influence and who provided you with a home with her parents when you required it and you were still friends. In your early 20s you had a relationship for 18 months, moving with
that partner to Ballarat to escape other friends in Melbourne who were then using drugs.
13Then in about late 2014 to 2015 you formed a relationship with a lady who then became your wife and you remained in that relationship until June 2022 when you separated due to this offending. You have a son who was born in July 2006. You are very close to him and you see him on an almost daily basis, he living with your wife. You are currently not in a relationship which you told Professor McEwan was unusual for you (as you have nearly always been in a relationship) but have realised that this is not an appropriate time for you to be in that situation.
14I found Associate Professor McEwan's report extremely helpful, in particular it was helpful by what I regard as your commendable openness with him when he interviewed you. In referring to it I must go into some detail into your sexual history. You were exposed to pornography at your father's home when you were about eight or nine. By aged 10 you were seeking it out when you went to his house. It was always adult pornography. You began masturbating around this time and by the age of 13 were worried you were doing this too much as it had developed into a daily habit and you felt that this was not normal.
15From about the age of 14 you took measures to reduce your masturbation rate, if I can put it that way. You took up BMX riding, computers and you also reduced your online presence and you reduced masturbation to a couple of times a week. You had your first sexually intimate experience with a same age partner when you were 13 and she your then girlfriend. This was consensual. You told Professor McEwan that you masturbated less when you were in a relationship.
16However you have had regularly used pornography on and off over the years and it was Professor McEwan's view that essentially you had come to use masturbation via online pornography as a means of relieving boredom and negative emotions. This had ceased to be as much of a problem for you until
the birth of your son. After he was born apparently the sexual relationship between yourself and your wife essentially ceased. You told Professor McEwan you did not wish to conduct an extra marital affair. It appears that you loved your wife and did not want to leave her but found it extremely difficult not being able to engage in sexual activity with her.
17I am going to at this point turn to your prior criminal history. That began in 2010 and I will go through it in a little more detail in a moment, but does involve two prior matters, one in 2022 for wilful and obscene exposure in public which involved two charges. In fact that offending occurred in 2017 in the aftermath of the cessation of your sexual relationship with your wife. You were extremely ashamed of this offending and did not tell your wife about it and you were dealt with it by way of non-custodial dispositions, one of them being a Community Corrections Order.
18There was some delay in the hearing of these matters caused at first by your inability to afford legal representation and then by the restrictive conditions of COVID which limited the number of cases going before courts. In any event, it appears that even though at one stage you were breached in relation to your Community Corrections Order that was rectified. You went on to complete the order satisfactorily and it is clear that this offending occurred in the context of the lack of sexual relations between you and your wife and again I will expand on that a little more in these sentencing remarks.
19Following that offending all went well until the 2020 lockdown during which you, like many people, suffered a lowered mood. You were unable to work because of the lockdown conditions. You were unable to get out of the house and at this stage in order to relieve boredom and a somewhat depressed mood you downloaded group chat rooms. You had sexual discussions and virtual activity with a large number of strangers because at this stage you were not finding pornography arousing any longer.
20This behaviour had gone on for quite a time involving a number of people, and the
21Swapping of numerous explicit pictures and so forth. It was in that context that the offending which is before this court. Following your arrest for these matters you realised that you were using sexual arousal to relieve boredom and to manage lowered mood, as I have said. You were very conscious of what could happen to you and that it was Professor McEwan’s view that in terms of specific deterrence the fact of you being arrested and charged had had a massive effect upon you and that you had made off your own bat since then a sustained effort to reduce masturbation and using pornographic materials, having reduced that to a couple of times a week.
22I am now going to turn in a little more detail to your forensic history. In July of 2010 you were dealt with for handling stolen goods and forging and identifying a number plate. Essentially you told Professor McEwan you put your mother's number plate on a car because your licence was suspended.
23In 2012 you were dealt with again for falsifying number plates. At this time you were trying to start your own business and put number plates on the cars and for this you were placed on a Community Corrections Order.
24In August 2013 you moved to Ballarat, did not attend the Community Corrections Orders conditions and you were breached but eventually you completed this order successfully. Again in August 2013 you appeared before courts on a charge of theft, failing to answer bail, attempting to obtain property by deception and other charges of dishonesty. Apparently your mother stole a bankcard which she then used in criminal activity. Video footage of that activity showed her in the presence of another man who looked sufficiently like you that your lawyer advised you to plead guilty. You did so but then ceased all contact with your mother after that.
25There is offending in November 2010, recklessly causing serious injury, and
that was an incident involving your grandmother which in fact precipitated your leaving home. Your grandmother apparently went to hit you. You hit her first and it appears hit her quite hard. She ended up at hospital and authorities there reported the assault.
26In terms of prior sexual offending, this occurred in the midst of the Fair Work hearing you had taken out on behalf of other employees at Autobarn. Your grandmother had died 12 months before, as I have said, the relationship with your wife was almost sexually non-existent and you turned as you had before to masturbating daily.
27On both occasions you were undertaking this activity in your car on the way home from work. On one occasion you were seen by a woman on a street, on another occasion by a bus load of people getting off a bus nearby where you were parked. On neither occasion was this intentional activity by you insofar as being seen was concerned but it seems that you had retreated into a sort of sexual fantasy land which got you into trouble both times. As I have also said, there was a considerable delay in these matters so that the 2022 prior criminal matter relates in fact to an activity five years before that. As I have said, you were extremely ashamed of this offending and did not tell your wife.
28In relation to the offending before this court which I have also referred to, you told Professor McEwan you had been talking to Lucy for a couple of weeks and that you were "so caught up in the app" (that being the Kik app) 'I couldn't differentiate right and wrong". You acknowledged to Professor McEwan that you were fantasising about meeting Lucy as she lived nearby but did not really expect to do this.
29In his report Professor McEwan noted at paragraph 59:
"Mr Conyers acknowledged engaging in fantasy about Lucy though stated that this was fuelled by the idea that she lived close to him in Cranbourne. He stated that in his fantasies Lucy was not a child or young adolescent but a young woman probably in her late teens. Mr Conyers denied any intention to ever meet Lucy. He stated that it was a
way of maintaining the conversation and he did not expect her to want to meet with him."
30I do note from the prosecution summary that the conversations between you and the putative Lucy did peter off without any serious attempt by you to meet her and it appears petered off at your end insofar as contact was concerned and so I accept what you told Professor McEwan when he interviewed you. Professor McEwan wrote:
"Mr Conyers reported that he is very aware that his behaviour was inappropriate and that he cannot continue to use sexual arousal and masturbation to manage negative mood or relieve boredom. He was able to describe some basic strategies to manage sexual urges and arousal, mostly focused on keeping himself busy and engaged with meaningful social activities or gaming."
31Professor Conyers also wrote:
"He has reported that he is very conscious of the consequences of continued similar behaviour and has found the entire court process to be very deterrent."
32Professor McEwan undertook a risk assessment of you and found you to be a low level of risk for re-offending generally and in terms of sexual offending found that there was no evidence to support a diagnosis of paedophilia or a sustained focused or intense pattern of sexual interest in children.
33It was his opinion that you did not suffer from any mental disorder. He believed that the predisposing factors for the offending both in 2017 and the offending before this court were that you have a relatively high sex drive, that you had learned to use masturbation to cope with negative emotional states and that this was a habit that pattern had become entrenched by 2017. He also believed that there were some situational factors essentially comprising significant external stress. Professor McEwan stated:
"In both 2017 and 2020 the offending seems to have occurred without planning. Rather, his focus on sexual gratification and the fact that the was engaging in very frequent sexual behaviour has led him to engage in increasingly risky sexual acts. When his behaviour crossed the line into offending Mr Conyers appears to have been so focused on his own sexual gratification that he lacked care or interest in ensuring that he did not cause harm to others."
34Importantly in my view, Professor McEwan on to say:
"In relation to the 2020 offences involving Lucy there was little to suggest that Mr Conyers was particularly interested in the fact that Lucy was a child. By his account he was not fantasising about Lucy as an early adolescent but as a young woman. Supporting this conclusion I note that the prosecution states that Mr Conyers sent three images of young women to Lucy and stated that these were what he thought she looked like."
35It was Professor McEwan's view that any further sexual offending was unlikely in the short to medium term given the deterrent effect the court processes had on you and what he described as your general pro-sociality. However he was concerned that over the longer term if you were again experiencing significant stressors you could undertake this sort of offending unless you were better able to develop skills to "Better regulate his emotional state without using sexual gratification."
36He said there were no risk factors that might be associated with escalation to physical violence or a pattern of sexual offending against children. He stated:
"There was little to indicate that Mr Conyers has a history of behavioural disturbance suggestive of broader issues with his personality functioning. There was very little to suggest an antisocial personality pattern and he is assessed as a low risk of future non sexual offending. He therefore has few criminogenic needs to address in broader rehabilitative programs."
37As I have said, I found this an extremely helpful report. In my view specific deterrence is not a significant sentencing principle to which I must pay regard. I am satisfied that despite a very difficult upbringing you have overall gone on to live a pro-social responsible life. I accept that you have a loving relationship with your son. I accept that you continue to enjoy a cooperative relationship with your former wife. I accept that generally speaking you do not present as a high risk of re-offending and I am satisfied that you are not a risk to children. I accept Professor McEwan's assessment of you as someone who had dealt with considerable difficulties in his life in the way I have described and have returned to it at a time of particular stress for you.
38In all those circumstances, whilst general deterrence is an important factor in sentencing in cases such as these, the opinion of Professor McEwan that you
were not specifically attracted to Lucy because of her alleged age leads me to conclude that general deterrence which is normally an overwhelming factor in sentencing of this kind, can be expressed by way of a non custodial disposition and I propose to deal with you in that way.
39Professor McEwan described you as being very concerned about the factors leading to this offending, about the fact that you have resorted to this sort of sexual activity in times of stress and that you are very open to treatment in this area. Most fortunately, Professor McEwan (and the court is very grateful to him for doing this) decided that in the circumstances of you requiring specialist psychological interventions specifically targeting your use of masturbation and sexual fantasy to reduce negative mood he would make inquiries on your behalf. He located a particular psychologist, Dr Julia Hosie, whom he recommended you attend upon. You have agreed to do this. It is something that you will have to pay for yourself.
40In all the circumstances it was my view that the way I should deal with you is by way of a recognisance to be of good behaviour with a condition that you undertake a Community Corrections Order. I had you assessed for this and you were found suitable by the assessor. You were said by the Corrections assessor to have been open and honest in your discussions, that you expressed great remorse and regret to him.
41The author of the MARS report also said you just engaged in a polite forthcoming and reflective manner and that you presented with appropriate insight and judgment into the mental health issues that have led to your offending.
42I do apologise, Ms Buckby and Mr Morrison, I think in the discussion we had last time there was a discussion about whether I would impose a term of imprisonment and then release Mr Conyers on a Community Corrections Order or whether in light of the psychological material I would simply place him on a
recognisance with a condition. Can you remind me?
43MR MORRISON: Yes, Your Honour. You can actually just place him straight onto the CCO without the recognisance consideration.
44So in relation to both charges which I regard as having arisen from the same set of circumstances and therefore appropriate for an aggregate sentence, I am going to place you on a Community Corrections Order for a period of 15 months. Before I can place you on this order and could you stand up, please, sir, I need to explain to you the conditions underlying the order because I must gain your consent before I can place you on the order.
45You must report to the Community Corrections Office within two working days of the making of this order. That is, by Friday of this week. Whilst on the order you must not commit any offence punishable by imprisonment. You may not leave Victoria whilst on the order without the permission of the Community Corrections Office. You must report any change of address or employment within 48 hours of the making of that change.
46You must not attend upon the Community Corrections Office under the influence of drugs or alcohol. You must report to and receive visits from the Community Corrections Office and you must obey all lawful directions of the Community Corrections Office. I am going to order that you undertake 150 hours of unpaid community work. You are to attend for supervision.
47I was going to put judicial monitoring down and we will get a date for three month's time. All right. I just want to check that you have linked in. I am going to order that you undertake assessment and treatment for mental health difficulties. Professor McEwan specifically found that you have no difficulties with drugs or alcohol. I am going to order that you attend upon psychologist Dr Julie Hosie, as directed. Are you prepared to enter this order?
48OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
49HER HONOUR: Thank you. Pursuant to s6AAA I declare that had you not pleaded guilty I would have placed you on a Community Corrections Order for a period of two years. Is there anything else that I need to attend to?
50MR MORRISON: Just the SORA registration, Your Honour.
51HER HONOUR: Does he have to go on it?
52MR MORRISON: Unfortunately. They're both Class 2 offences which makes him a registrable offender for 15 years.
53HER HONOUR: Just ridiculous.
54MR MORRISON: Yes, I did double check this morning, Your Honour .
55HER HONOUR: That's very kind of you. I mean look, this is a classic case of complete overkill and, you know, it is just the need - I should have realised. All right, thank you. Can you stand up, Mr Conyers. No doubt this has been explained to you. I have absolutely no choice in this. You are to be placed on the sex offenders register for a period of 15.
56OFFENDER: What does that actually mean, Your Honour?
57HER HONOUR: Your counsel will explain it to you but it has quite some repercussions and I have no choice in the matter. I am directed by the legislation to place you on that order for 15 years and that's it. There is nothing that can be done about it. All right. Thank you, have a seat. We will prepare that. You'll be able to explain that to Mr Conyers, Ms Buckby?
58MS BUCKBY: Yes, Your Honour.
59HER HONOUR: Thank you very much. It's going to take about 10 minutes. I'll just need to stand down for that. Thank you.
60(Short adjournment.)
61HER HONOUR: Thank you. I just want to have a look at - there's just no way around this, isn't there?
62MR MORRISON: No, I don't - - -
63HER HONOUR: So this is a class?
64MR MORRISON: They're both Class 2 offences, Your Honour. It's under sub- s28D of the Sex Offenders Registration Act in the Class 2.
65HER HONOUR: Section 28?
66MR MORRISON: D in the Class 2 offences schedule at the end, Your Honour, p199 of the Act.
67HER HONOUR: Thank you. Is that so even where it's believed, in the believed to be.
68MR MORRISON: Yes, Your Honour. I did double check this, this morning. Pursuant to s6 which identifies who is a registrable offender.
69HER HONOUR: Yes.
70MR MORRISON: In the notes at Part 4 it says, 'The effect of this Act is that any adult offender sentenced at any time for a Class 1 or 2 offence must comply with the reporting obligations of Part 3.'
71HER HONOUR: Yes, I see that. All right, I just make the comment.
72MR MORRISON: Yes, Your Honour.
73HER HONOUR: That this is a classic example of why there should be a wider discretion in cases of this kind. I imagine the repercussions for this offender will negatively impact on the protective factors in his life. This is someone who is diagnosed as not having an interest in children and who is diagnosed as presenting with low criminogenic risk and who has with the right treatment, will
present as virtually no risk to anyone and he's on the sex offenders register. Completing undermining, as I said, the protective factors in his life I would imagine. A classic example.
74All right then, thank you very much. I have signed that and my associate will give that to Mr Conyers. All right, thank you. Yes, just give that to Mr Conyers and his counsel will explain the consequences. Thank you. Counsel are excused. Thank you very much.
75MR MORRISON: Thank you, Your Honour.
76HER HONOUR: And particularly the Prosecution, you've been incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for your assistance, and you too of course. Thank you, madam defence counsel.
- - -
IN THE COUNTY COURT CR-21-02367
OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE
THE QUEEN
-v-
MICHAEL CONYERS
SUMMARY OF PROSECUTION OPENING FOR PLEA
Date of Document: Filed on behalf of: 7 April 2022
Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions
Prepared by: Commonwealth Solicitor’s code: Director of Public Prosecutions Telephone: Level 14, 181 William Street MELBOURNE VIC 3000 Reference: 2021PR00030
Indictments and maximum penalties
1.Michael Conyers (the Offender) pleads guilty to the following offence:
Charge 1 Use a carriage service to procure a person believed to be under 16 years of age, contrary to sub-section 474.26(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth). Maximum penalty: 15 years imprisonment
Charge 2
Use a carriage service to transmit indecent communication to a person believed to be under 16 years of age, contrary to sub-section 474.27A(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
Maximum penalty: 7 years imprisonment
Overview of Offending
2.The Offender is 30 years old and was 29 years old at the time of offending.
3.Charge 1 relates to the Offender’s use of the carriage service to make a number of communications, including images and text, to a person he believed to be under 16 years of age, with the intention of procuring the recipient to engage in a sexual activity with himself.
4.Charge 2 concerns the Offender’s use of the carriage service to make other communications to the recipient in which he transmitted images and videos of himself that were of an indecent nature.
5.The recipient of the communications was an Undercover Operative (UCO) who was posing as a 14-year-old girl named ‘Lucy’. The Offender’s communications with Lucy took place over the ‘Kik’ instant messenger application.1
6.This Opening includes relevant extracts from the Kik communications relied upon. The prosecution have made the entirety of the communications from which these extracts have been taken, insofar as they have been captured by investigators, available to the court at Attachment A if the court would be assisted by seeing them in their full context.
Summary of Offending
Charge 1 – Using a carriage service to procure a person believed to be under 16 years of age between
7.Over a period of three weeks, between 26 September 2020 and 27 December 2020, the Offender using the Kik account “MikeG5390” with the username “Mike G”, sent a serious of communications to Lucy with the purpose of procuring the putative child to engage in sexual activity with himself.
8.On 24 September 2020, Lucy asked the Offender how old you need to be to get a tattoo because her mum will not let her get one. The Offender responded, “used to be 16, it’s 18 now though”. On 26 September 2020, Lucy said to the Offender “Dam thats 6 years to wait” and the Offender replied that he did not realise Lucy was so young.
9.On 28 September 2020, Lucy told the Offender “Lol yea I told u I was 14 lol” and the Offender replied, “I imagine my cock would be huge inside you then”. The following day the Offender wrote “hahaha that’s something I’d like to see, for research purposes obviously” and “would be fun to find out”. The Offender repeated this on 5 October
1 Kik is an instant messaging mobile application which utilises mobile data or Wi-Fi to transmit and receive messages, photos, videos, sketches, mobile webpages, and other content after users register a username. The service is popular in relation to the relative anonymity users can exploit by being able to create an account without the need to submit a mobile phone service during the account creation stage.
and again on 6 October when he said, “just to see how it looks and how far in it fits”
and “should we find out?”.
10.On 12 October 2020, after establishing that they both lived in Cranbourne, the Offender suggested that he and Lucy go on a walk around Cranbourne and said, “maybe I can take you [to the beach] when we’re allowed to go again…down Mornington way”. The Offender then sent Lucy three images of naked young females and said, “This is how I picture your body, am I close? Lol”.
11.On 13 October 2020, the Offender suggested they go for a walk on Thursday and made this suggestion again on 19 October 2020. On 22 October 2020, the Offender asked Lucy if she wanted to help him mow the lawn and said “yeah come and do it. It’s boring by myself lol. I’m going to do it in my underwear”. This invitation was repeated by the Offender on 25 October 2020 when he said to Lucy “you should actually come help me on Thursday morning. Like for real” . On 30 October 2020, the Offender again asked Lucy to “come help me Thursday” and then sent two videos of himself mowing the lawn with an erection.
12.On 1 November 2020, the Offender asked Lucy if she wanted to go to the beach on Thursday. On 2 November 2020, Lucy responded that she had school. On 4 November 2020, the Offender said, “Let me take you out to the beach tomorrow!”. Lucy did not respond to this message.
13.Between 2 November 2020 and 27 December 2020 the Offender and Lucy communicated infrequently, with the Offender sporadically saying “Hey” to Lucy on 14 November 2020 and finally again on 27 December 2020, when the communications ceased.
Charge 2 – Using a carriage service to transmit indecent communication to a person believed to be under 16 years
14.This charge concerns the Offender sending the following material to Lucy, which was of an indecent nature:
a.on 11 October 2020, the Offender sent two images of himself with an erect penis;2 and
b.on 16 October 2020, the Offender sent a video of himself naked in the shower masturbating.3
2 Exhibit 03 – Photo 2 and 3.
3 Exhibit 04 – Photo 2.
Arrest and Record of Interview
15.On 31 December 2020, members of the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) executed a search warrant at the Offender’s home.
16.The Offender participated in a record of interview, during which he stated that:
a.He does not have a Kik account4
b.He has never used Kik
c.He does not recall making the email address [email protected]
d.He is the person depicted in the Kik profile picture for the account named MikeG5390. This is one of his old Facebook display photos
e.The photos sent from the Kik account “MikeG” to Lucy are photos of him
f.He took these photos and images of himself
g.He has recorded videos of himself masturbating in the shower
h.He has sent these videos to a friend of his called “Demi” on Instagram
i.He has posted videos and photos of himself on Tumblr
j.He has a spiteful ex-girlfriend who has previously made a fake Snapchat account in his name6
k.His ex-girlfriend has never been to his house7
l.He has no explanation for how a KIK user, using his IP address, communicated with Lucy8
Plea of Guilty
17.The Offender was arrested on 31 December 2020. At the fifth committal mention on 5 November 2021 the Offender entered a plea of guilty.
Prior Conviction
18.The Offender has no relevant previous convictions.
Pre-Sentence Detention
19.The Offender has served no pre-sentence detention.
Sex Offender Registration
20.Charges 1 and 2 on the indictment are Class 2 registrable offences under the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 (Vic). Accordingly, upon conviction the Offender will be required to comply with the reporting obligations of the Act for 15 years.9
4 Ibid – Q78 5 Ibid – Q105 6 Ibid – Q261 7 Ibid – Q262 8 Ibid – Q263
9 Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 (Vic) s 34.
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