'Master manipulator' photographer raped and molested child models
A Brisbane artistic photographer who used children as his subjects has been convicted of abusing 15 boys and girls over a 16-and-a-half-year period after winning the trust of their families.
Prosecutors have labelled Kye John Tanson, 41, a "master manipulator" and "committed paedophile".
They say Tanson befriended his victims' families before plying the children with alcohol and molesting them.
He has pleaded guilty to 60 child sex offences committed from 1997 to 2015, including 11 counts of rape and 42 indecent treatment offences.
Nine of the victims were girls, six were boys.
Tanson took some of his victims to remote bush locations to take illicit photographs of them.
Others woke up to him photographing them naked.
In what prosecutors labelled the worst of his offending, he met a girl on Facebook and maintained a two-and-a-half year relationship with her.
She became a model for him.
After they had sex the first time, he asked her to falsely claim in a letter she was 16 years old when she was just 13.
He would go on to anally rape her seven times.
Tanson met the children, mostly teenagers, in the Wide Bay and southeast regions of Queensland through activities such as board game meet-ups, single parent support groups, medieval re-enactment events or his tutoring job.
‘Motivated by sick, sexual gratification’
After gaining their families' trust, he would attend sleepovers where games of Truth or Dare would be played and alcohol consumed.
But the activities would lead to the children being molested and raped, often while they were asleep.
"Mr Tanson cunningly won the trust of these children but also their families, particularly their parents," crown prosecutor Chris Cook told Brisbane District Court.
"Mr Tanson was a master manipulator.
"He put these children through humiliating experiences. His motivation seemed to be his own sick, sexual gratification."
Tanson abused another girl, aged 13, for 18 months.
He claimed he was in love with her and asked her to marry him, but became verbally aggressive towards her when the relationship was ending.
Although the bulk of the offending occurred from 2006, Tanson's abuse started when he was 17 and his victim was 15.
He is being sentenced on Wednesday.
Mr Cook said he has no hope of rehabilitation.
Tanson was previously convicted for falsely claiming he had a Blue Card while working as a tutor.
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