A master's student has been released from jail after he admitted breaching child sex offender register requirements by repeatedly visiting a Canberra pool without telling police.
Benjamin Hugh Smith, 38, spent about four-and-a-half months behind bars on remand after being accused of grooming two boys in the Australian Institute of Sport aquatic centre's showers.
The two child grooming charges were dropped in the ACT Magistrates Court on Wednesday, as was an allegation that Smith had provided police with a false name or address.
The Chifley man pleaded guilty, however, to a charge of failing to report a change of personal details to the child sex offender register team between June 2020 and March 2022.
He also admitted contravening a lawful order made by a magistrate in May.
Agreed facts show Smith became a registered child sex offender in 2017, when he was sentenced by the NSW District Court for engaging in sexual intercourse with a child.
Some time after receiving a suspended 20-month jail sentence for that offence, he moved to Canberra.
After initially complying with his obligations under the nationwide child sex offender register, Smith began flouting them.
Police became aware of this after being called in March to the AIS pool, in Bruce, when the allegations of grooming were first raised.
Officers stopped Smith as he walked out of the men's changing rooms and seized his phone, which they suspected to contain "material of an illicit or unlawful nature".
Subsequent investigations revealed Smith had bought a 20-visit pass to the AIS pool, and used it 19 times, without telling police.
This was a breach of his obligation to report membership of any organisation with child members.
Smith was eventually arrested in May, when investigators served him with a court order compelling him to provide them with the passcode for his phone. The Chifley man refused to do so.
When Smith fronted court on Wednesday, defence lawyer Daniel Turner said a full-time jail term was appropriate but the offender had "done enough time" behind bars on remand.
Mr Turner said Smith's stint in the Alexander Maconochie Centre had been the 38-year-old's "first taste of custody", and the offender had been "anxious" throughout it.
This anxiety was partly attributed to media coverage, which Mr Turner argued amounted to extra-curial punishment given the initial articles referred to the alleged child grooming.
Mr Turner told the court Smith would forever have to live with the "digital footprint" of his name being linked to those allegations when they were ultimately not pursued.
The Aboriginal Legal Service lawyer also said his client, "an educated man", planned to live with his parents in NSW and continue studying for a master's degree upon release.
Prosecutor Sam Bargwanna argued "a strong sentence" should be imposed to send a clear message to other sex offenders that there was "no excuse" for failing to comply with their obligations under the nationwide register.
Magistrate James Stewart ultimately sentenced Smith to time served on remand.
He said both of Smith's offences were "not simply a matter of the court being displeased at its orders not being followed", and time behind bars was an appropriate punishment.
