A man is behind bars for possessing child sexual abuse material and for having sexual conversations with a 13-year-old girl on Kick.
It was not the first time Stewart Victor Bone, 31, had been caught with child abuse material, having been sentenced in NSW for similar crimes in 2016.
In the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, June 2, he was handed a five-year-and-six-month jail sentence with a two-year-and-nine-month non-parole period for his most recent crimes.
He had previously pleaded guilty to five charges including possessing child abuse material and using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material.
Justice David Mossop said Bone's crimes "had a direct impact on children".
Between June 2022 and January 2025, Bone accessed and downloaded child abuse material via Kick, a video streaming and social media platform.
The files included 288 images and videos predominantly depicting children aged between one year and 17 years old.
Bone had a conversation on Kick with a 13-year-old girl from India who used the username "psychic".
He steered the conversation towards sexual topics and requested the child describe sexual activity to him.
The 31-year-old also discussed sex and incest with a person using the username "Jack933". The user sent Bone an indecent image of his 17-year-old sister and the pair exchanged messages constituting written child abuse material.
ACT Policing searched Bone's home in January 2025 after a referral from the Australian Centre for Countering Child Exploitation.
During the search, Bone refused to provide police with the passcode to open a secure folder on his mobile phone.
Justice Mossop said the man had a good childhood, no problems with drugs and alcohol, and had been employed full-time as a mobile plant fitter.
In 2016, police discovered about 80 child abuse material files in a folder called "kids" while searching Bone's home in Young.
He was sentenced to a good behaviour bond for two years and placed on the child protection register.
Bone repeatedly failed to comply with his reporting obligations as a registered sex offender in NSW and racked up $1300 in fines.
He will be eligible for parole in February 2029.
