A COUNTY Court judge who sentenced a paedophile groomer to a minimum two years in jail on Wednesday has warned parents that paedophiles no longer just lurk around playgrounds but now “sneak around cyberspace”.
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Robert Mortimer, 57, of Mitchell Street, Casterton, admitted to the online grooming of a 14-year-old girl who was actually an undercover police investigator.
He pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool County Court to using a carriage service to groom a child, possessing child pornography and soliciting child pornography using a carriage service and was jailed for three years with a minimum two years to serve.
On release he will have to complete a sex offender’s program.
Judge Gerard Mullaly said Mortimer started inappropriate communications with a 13-year-old girl, who reported the matter to police.
Investigators then posed as a 14-year-old girl “Hayley” and within minutes Mortimer was seeking photos and inquired if the girl had a webcam.
The next day Mortimer repeated the requested photos and he later claimed he had been talking to young girls in chatrooms for six years.
The chat quickly became highly personal, with Judge Mullaly saying Mortimer was depraved.
Mortimer then sent highly inappropriate and naked photos of himself to the girl, saying he wanted to have sex with a girl her age.
He pestered the girl for telephone conversations and proposed to meet up to talk and “fool around”.
The undercover officers blocked Mortimer in May 2016 but it took until January last year to take action.
On January 20 a search warrant was executed at Mortimer’s home and 154 photos and four videos containing sexually explicit images of children aged between four and 14 were found.
He had 20 online contacts, six of which were underage girls.
Judge Mullaly said when interviewed, Mortimer offered self-justification explanations, including that the girls had pursued him.
He said Mortimer lacked insight and minimised his conduct despite his entrenched pedophile crimes.
The judge described the pornography as disturbing, mostly pre-teen girls with some as young as four years old forced to engage in sexual activity.
He said Mortimer had sought out the dark corners of the internet and his attempts to groom the girl were deplorable.
He said paedophiles were increasingly using the internet to access children, that offending was hard to detect and general deterrence in sentencing was particularly relevant in the case.
The judge said not all paedophiles skulked around playgrounds with many now in cyberspace conducting calculated and insidious activities.
He said Mortimer wanted to have sex with an underage girl, had offered to teach her and requested their communications be hidden from her parents.
Mortimer felt that confident having been chatting to girls in chatrooms they he didn't even hide his identity, he said.
The judge described Mortimer's prospects of rehabilitation as guarded and registered him as a sex offender for life.
