Media Release
NSW man jailed over failed plan to meet minor for sexual activity
Editor’s Note: Audio grabs, vision and images available via Hightail
A Wollongong man, 70, has been sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of one year and eight months, for multiple online child abuse offences.
The man was sentenced by the Wollongong District Court today (23 April, 2025) after previously pleading guilty to three offences, including plans to engage in sexual activity with a minor.
An AFP investigation began in 2022 after the man engaged in conversations in an online chat forum, where he expressed both a sexual attraction to children and a desire to commit sexual offences against them.
The man then made plans to meet an online user from the chat forum who allegedly had access to a minor. Unbeknown to the man, he was speaking to an AFP officer who was tracking him.
AFP officers arrested the man and executed multiple search warrants, including one at his Mount Warrigal home, where they seized a laptop containing child abuse material.
The man pleaded guilty on 8 October, 2024, to the following offences:
- One count of using a carriage service to groom another person to make it easier to procure persons under 16 to engage in sexual activity, contrary to section 474.27AA of the Criminal Code (Cth);
- One count of possessing child abuse material accessed or obtained using a carriage service, contrary to section 474.22A of the Criminal Code (Cth); and
- One count of transmitting child abuse material, contrary to section 474.22 of the Criminal Code (Cth).
AFP Detective Acting Inspector Emmanuel Tsardoulias said the AFP was relentless in its commitment to apprehend offenders and bring them before the criminal justice system.
“We cannot send a clearer message to offenders – if you engage in these abhorrent activities, the AFP will find you, and you will face the full force of the law,” Det a/Insp Tsardoulias said.
“Planning or engaging in activities that seek to harm children has no place in Australian society, and this investigation should serve as a warning.”
The AFP and its partners are committed to stopping child exploitation and abuse and the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) is driving a collaborative national approach to combatting child abuse.
The ACCCE brings together specialist expertise and skills in a central hub, supporting investigations into online child sexual exploitation and developing prevention strategies focused on creating a safer online environment.
Members of the public who have information about people involved in child abuse are urged to contact the ACCCE. If you know abuse is happening right now, or a child is at risk, call police immediately on 000.
If you, or someone you know, is impacted by child sexual abuse and online exploitation, support services are available.
Research conducted by the ACCCE in 2020 revealed only about half of parents talked to their children about online safety. Advice and support for parents and carers about how they can help protect children online can be found at the ThinkUKnow website, an AFP-led education program designed to prevent online child sexual exploitation.
For more information on the role of the ACCCE, what is online child sexual exploitation and how to report it visit the ACCCE website.
Note to media
Use of term 'CHILD ABUSE' MATERIAL not ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’
The correct legal term is Child Abuse Material – the move to this wording was among amendments to Commonwealth legislation in 2019 to more accurately reflect the gravity of the crimes and the harm inflicted on victims.
Use of the phrase ‘child pornography’ is inaccurate and benefits child sex abusers because it:
- indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and
- conjures images of children posing in 'provocative' positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.
Every photograph or video captures an actual situation where a child has been abused.
