'One of the worst' online child sex offenders in Queensland jailed
A former tax official dubbed "one of the worst" online sex offenders ever in Queensland will be eligible for parole in less than two years.
Jason Tanira Kerr, 51, was having up to 18 drinks a night while grooming children and getting them to perform sexual acts online for about five years until his arrest in 2019.
He was a "high-functioning" alcoholic working for the Australian Tax Office until he was made redundant in 2016.
Kerr pleaded guilty to more than 100 charges in the Brisbane District Court on Friday where he was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison.
Judge Gary Long said with time served, Kerr will be eligible for parole in April 2022.
Police searched Kerr's house in January 2019 after he communicated online with an undercover officer pretending to be a 14-year-old girl.
Kerr claimed to be a boy of the same age.
Officers found more than 500 pictures and 126 videos containing child exploitation material.
This included screenshots of chat-logs and recordings of Skype conversations with 97 users who identified themselves as children.
At least 19 were confirmed to be underage from footage, but the Crown argued the vast majority would have been children.
Offending described as ‘horrifically persistent’
Kerr asked the children to perform sexualised acts, in one case sending a video of a 14-year-old to another boy as "an example of what he liked".
His offending was "horrifically persistent" and he is a high risk to the community, crown prosecutor Toby Corsbie told the court.
"He is one of the worst internet-based sexual offenders in Queensland's history," Mr Crosbie said.
Kerr pleaded guilty to 111 charges – including 54 counts of using the internet to procure children under the age of 16 and 44 counts of grooming children.
The court heard he was convicted in 2013 of similar offences relating to a 15-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl.
He was given a wholly suspended sentence because he was regarded as at low-risk of reoffending.
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