A Chisholm man who used Snapchat to solicit child sex abuse material presents as a significant suicide risk should he serve an extended prison sentence for his offending, the ACT Supreme Court has been told.
In sentencing submissions on Tuesday, defence barrister Steven Whybrow said tow-truck driver Brett Hartley-Kennett, 28, had served three weeks in prison following his arrest and had "suffered significantly" while in custody.
He said his client found his time in prison before being granted bail under strict conditions "an extremely confronting experience", and he had attempted suicide while incarcerated.
Appearing before Justice John Burns, Hartley-Kennett will face sentencing on two separate charges: one of using a carriage service to access child abuse material, and another of using a carriage service to procure a person under the age of 16.
The Australian Federal Police's Covert Online Operations team had used an operative to pose as a 14-year-old girl known as "Amy", with whom Hartley-Kennett had a number of explicit online exchanges.
An agreed statement of facts shows "Amy" had provided "her" age as 14, while Hartley-Kennett lied about his age, saying he was 22.
The defendant and "Amy" had online exchanges over a period of some six weeks in which he first asked to "hang out", then progressed to asking for naked pictures on July 16 and 22 last year.
Hartley-Kennett urged the covert operative not to tell anyone else about what they had discussed, writing: "Don't really want anyone knowing how old I am cause it makes me look bad."
He also openly discussed taking the fictitious girl's virginity, saying he had "been with a few virgins, never been a bad comment".
The defendant also made one of a number of proposals to meet with "Amy" in person. They eventually arranged to meet at the Arawang netball courts in Stirling on July 24, with potential plans to then travel to the fake persona's home in the offender's tow-truck.
Police swooped on the agreed location on July 24, arrested the man, and seized two mobile phones from him.
In his submissions, Mr Whybrow said his client was a first-time offender, had entered pleas of guilty, showed contrition and had already served three weeks in prison.
A medical assessment had found his client suffered what was described as a "learning disability vulnerability".
He also believed that the range of offending in this case was in the low or medium range.
Commonwealth prosecutor David Bloomfield said the offender was aware of the "sheer criminality of his offending" and that his mental health was "not a significant factor in this matter".
Mr Bloomfield said that the defendant had "sought to sanitise his description of events", and had engaged in "repetitive, high-volume messaging" with a "high degree of sexualised language" including multiple references to the genitalia of "Amy".
"The offender lied about his age ... [and] tried to get the victim to conceal his offending," he said, arguing the offending was in the mid to high range.
Hartley-Kennett will be sentenced on Friday.
