Unsplash: Alex Ware
)An Adelaide man has been found not guilty of child grooming offences after being arrested for communicating with an undercover police officer posing as a 14-year-old boy in an online chat group.
The 28-year-old man stood trial in Adelaide's District Court charged with two counts of making a communication for a prurient purpose with the intention of making a child amenable to sexual activity.
During the trial, prosecutors alleged the man had sexualised conversations with the undercover officer on the messaging app Kik, and requested to meet up with him for sexual activity.
The court heard the man joined a group on the app called "Gay teens Adelaide" under the screen name "Prince Cool".
The man allegedly posted a message in the group asking, "Anyone up for fun?" to which the undercover police officer responded.
During the trial the police officer referred to his username by the pseudonym JPO-02.
"After this there are, on the prosecution case, clear references to the sexual activity that the accused intends to have with JPO-02 and numerous requests for pictures of JPO-02's body, including a picture of his lips, and information regarding JPO-02's physique," Judge Joana Fuller said.
The court heard the accused had numerous conversations with "the boy" before asking to meet him on a Thursday after school.
Prosecutors alleged a few weeks later the accused told JPO-02 to come to his house "now" and when JPO-02 said he could not, he asked for his address.
The court heard when the undercover officer told the accused his mother would go "mental" if he came over, the accused asked him to send him a "body pic" and then said, "Send me something, anything".
Judge Fuller said there were further requests to meet and the accused told JPO-02 not to wear his school uniform because he was still underage.
"JPO-02 promises to meet him on [May 7, 2019] and tells the accused he will pretend to be sick and then go to the accused's place when his mother leaves for work," she said.
The man was arrested that day.
"At the time, he was on the toilet with his mobile telephone in his hand and the Kik application was open," Judge Fuller said.
Accused thought it was a 'prank'
During a subsequent police interview the accused said he thought the conversations were a "prank" and that he "was totally, like not wanted to do anything (sic) … because he was 14".
"The accused said that even if he had met with JPO-02, he never thought about sexual activity because that was not 'under' his 'criteria' and he did not 'do any physical activities with the kids'," Judge Fuller said.
The man told police that he had been a teacher in India and that he knew his "duty".
In finding the accused not guilty of both counts, Judge Fuller said she was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused believed that JPO-02 was a child aged under 17.
The court heard the accused had asked, "What's your real age?" during the conversations.
"I find that that the accused accurately read JPO-02’s messages in which he said he was 14, but did not believe him," Judge Fuller said.
"I cannot exclude the reasonable possibility that …the accused was unsure of JPO-02's real identity and age but was proceeding on the basis that he was communicating with someone who was an adult, whether that be an adult teenager or someone older."
It heard when JPO-02 replied, "14 Is that still ok", the accused immediately responded: "Its not legal to have sex tho (sic)".
"I find that the accused did not, at any stage, believe JPO-02 was 14 years of age and suspected that he was an adult, but was uncertain as to his true age and identity," Judge Fuller said.
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