Would-be internet predator in Adelaide avoids jail after being caught by undercover police
An Adelaide man has narrowly avoided prison after being caught by an undercover police officer trying to send sexually explicit messages to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
Between January and June 2011, John Raymond Williams, 44, began communicating on an internet chat site with a person known as 'haley13xox' who was actually an undercover police officer.
The District Court heard the conversations started innocuously, but by April 2011 Williams was asking for naked pictures of the girl.
He sent her illicit videos and images, including some of his genitalia.
Judge Wayne Chivell said Williams was aware that he could get in trouble for communicating in that way with someone so young.
"I agree with the submissions of Mr Cannell, the prosecutor, that you intended to groom this girl to engage in sexual acts on camera for you," he said.
"Your conversations became steadily more explicit each time. In that way your behaviour was sexually predatory."
Covert operation a 'sham'
Williams pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated making a child amenable to a sexual activity by making a prurient communication.
His lawyer described the covert operation as a "sham", a "fraud" and a "hoax", and said the police officer was an imposter.
But Judge Chivell said Williams presented a risk to young girls and the officer was doing his duty to prevent the danger.
"I reject the idea that you were taken in by the police officer, if by that it is suggested that you had been the victim of trickery or unfairness," he said.
"There have been cases of young girls, actual young girls as young as 13 or even younger, doing precisely what happened here and suffering great harm.
"You committed a serious offence and deserve no sympathy because the police had to resort to covert means in order to detect it."
Judge gives Williams suspended sentence
The judge said he accepted it was unlikely Williams would have presented a physical risk to the made up girl but said he had tried to persuade her to "degrade herself over the internet" for his own sexual gratification.
He said Williams was reclusive and isolative, and avoided crowds because he was "socially anxious and withdrawn".
"You resorted to the internet as a substitute for social interaction and began to treat this as some sort of fantasy world where you could act without anxiety and without hindrance."
Judge Chivell jailed Williams for one year and nine months with a non-parole period of 14 months.
He suspended the sentence on the condition that Williams entered into a $1,000 good behaviour bond for three years.
Judge Chivell described his decision not to jail Williams as "difficult", considering the "serious nature" of the offence and community outrage for men who committed sexual offences against children.
He did not ban Williams from accessing the internet because it was both "impractical and almost impossible to enforce", but warned that he would almost certainly go to jail if he resorts to such behaviour again.
