A former professional cricketer and one-time Big Bash League player has pleaded guilty to child grooming charges and possessing child abuse material.
The Northern Territory Supreme Court heard Aaron Summers, 25, used his position as a professional sportsperson to build trust with victims and solicit sexually explicit material from them through Snapchat and Instagram.
A fast bowler, Summers played professional cricket at a state level for Tasmania, in India and once for the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League.
He was the first Australian cricketer to play in a domestic cricket competition in Pakistan and played matches in Karachi and Abu Dhabi earlier this year.
Crown prosecutor Hannah White described Summers's actions as "predatory, callous and calculated".
"He engaged in sexualised conversations with them and requested them to send sexually explicit images of themselves."
Summers pleaded guilty to seven charges, including possessing and transmitting child abuse material and transmitting communication with someone under 16 with the intention of procuring the recipient to engaging in or making sexual activity.
The charges relate to multiple victims, including two young boys who were aged 12 and 13 at the time of the offending .
The court heard all of the victims were personally known to Summers, through his involvement in cricket in Darwin.
Victim's police officer mother 'devastated'
Two victim impact statements were read to the court, including one from the mother of a 13-year-old boy, who is herself a senior police officer within the Northern Territory police.
The woman labelled Summers a "monster" and described the day she found out about the offending as the "worst day of her life".
"Imagine being woken in the middle of the night by the Northern Territory police, knocking on our door and informing us that a paedophile infiltrated our home and offended against our beautiful innocent 13-year-old son," the statement said.
"To think that my specialty training was not enough to save my son from a monster like Aaron Summers is devastating."
She said Summers had taken away her son's innocence and should be ashamed.
A second victim impact statement, from the mother of a 13-year-old victim, described how her son lost interest in schoolwork and become distant from family, friends and teachers following the offending.
Defence lawyer Matthew Hubber told the court that Summers co-operated with investigators, made full disclosures to police and had expressed remorse.
He requested that Summers's sentence be partially suspended and asked for him to be allowed to live with his parents, who were present in court, in Western Australia.
The matter was adjourned for a psychological report to be prepared before sentencing in December, with Summers remaining in custody.
