South African man jailed for grooming and online child abuse

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A South Australian man has been sentenced to four years in prison for manipulating a child and accessing child pornography via social media.

The 34-year-old man was sentenced in the Adelaide District Court today (27 August 2024) after pleading guilty to four offences related to child abuse in June 2024.

The South Australian Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (SA JACET), made up of members of the AFP and South Australia Police, investigated the man after receiving information from the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) about a South Australian manipulating a child online and sending explicit messages of child abuse material via social platforms.

Investigators subsequently linked the SA man to the online crime and conducted a search of his home in the Adelaide suburb of Munno Para in January 2024. During the search, investigators found several electronic devices, including a mobile phone, containing child abuse material.

The man was subsequently arrested and charged with one count of enticing a child under the age of 16 and two counts of obtaining access to child abuse material.

The man was sentenced to four years and one month in prison, of which two years and one month without the possibility of parole.

AFP Sergeant Joe Barry said the AFP and its partners are committed to protecting children from exploitation.

“Our detectives work tirelessly to identify offenders and ensure they are prosecuted,” said Sgt Barry.

“Child exploitation is not a victimless crime. Children are not commodities to be used for the horrible gratification of sexual predators.”

The AFP and its partners are committed to ending child exploitation and abuse and the ACCCE encourages a joint national approach to combating child abuse.

The ACCCE brings together specialist expertise and skills in a central hub, supports investigations into online child sexual exploitation and develops prevention strategies aimed at creating a safer online environment.

Members of the public with information about people involved in child abuse are urged to contact the ACCCE at www.accce.gov.au/report. If you know of any current abuse or a child at risk, call police immediately on 000.

If you or someone you know is experiencing child sexual abuse and online exploitation, you can access support services at www.accce.gov.au/support.

Research conducted by the ACCCE in 2020 revealed that only around half of parents talked to their children about online safety. Advice and support for parents and carers on how to help protect children online can be found at www.thinkuknow.org.au, an AFP-led educational program designed to prevent child sexual exploitation online.

For more information about the role of the ACCCE, what online child sexual exploitation is and how to report it, visit www.accce.gov.au.

Note to the media:

Use of the term CHILD ABUSE MATERIAL and not CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

The correct legal term is ‘child abuse material’. The move to this wording was one of a series of changes to Commonwealth law in 2019 to more accurately reflect the seriousness of the crimes and the harm caused to victims.

The use of the term “child pornography” is incorrect and benefits child abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and cooperation on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and
• conjures up images of children posing in ‘provocative’ poses, rather than being horribly abused.

Each photo or video captures an actual situation in which a child has been abused.