Rates of child grooming using social media on the rise, court documents reveal
THE rate of adult offenders grooming underage victims online is skyrocketing — with more than one in three targets coerced into sending naked or suggestive photos of themselves.
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ONE in three children groomed by adult offenders using social media will be coerced into sending naked or suggestive photos of themselves, court documents show.
The number of child grooming offences has also doubled over the past two years, leading experts to warn that the rise of self produced child exploitation material is a sign of an epidemic of child abuse enabled by new technology.
Chairwoman of child protection group Bravehearts Hetty Johnston said the increasing problem stemmed from technology fast out stripping parental supervision and knowledge.
“The internet magnifies all of the risks that children face, whether it be bullying or being approached by predators,” Ms Johnston said.
“It used to be that predators would use pornography as a tool to normalise sex for their victims. Now parents are doing it for them by handing children these devices.
“This is a debate we have to have and start taking seriously.”
A prosecution submission to the South Australian Supreme Court, and accessed by The Advertiser, shows that over two-and-a-half years 42 cases came before the court involving children being approached and groomed online.
Of that 42, 16 sent naked or suggestive photos of themselves using social media or text.
Twenty one of the cases involved victims being approached over social media with minimal or no previous contact with the offender.
Ms Johnston said the self-produced child exploitation material had increased by 60 per cent over the past few years.
“I’m not sure anyone has the answer to this problem,” Ms Johnston said.
“But I ask why are we allowing young kids to have internet connected smart phones when research is increasingly tell us how dangerous that is?
“There are adults being conned and groomed on the internet everyday, adults with mature brains and understanding are still getting duped.
“What chance do our children have against these very clever people.
“I despair at our willingness to hand over this technology to our children.”
The Federal eSafety Commissioner has had 406 reports of image-based abuse from across Australia since it its inception last year.
A third of those have involved sextortion or threats to share the images.
Ms Johnston said handing young children unfettered access to the internet was the same as handing them the keys to a car or leaving them alone in the city at night.
The statistics came to light in a document tendered to the Supreme Court as part of an appeal against the suspended sentence of a 21-year-old man from the South-East.
The man, who The Advertiser has chosen not to name to protect the victim’s identity, blackmailed a 14-year-old girl into having sex with him using naked photos she sent through social media.
The man, who reportedly had an intellectual disability, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for two counts of rape as well as possessing and disseminating child pornography.
However, the sentence was suspended because of the man’s age and lack of a criminal record.
During the appeal before the full bench of the Supreme Court Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber SC said the review of cases showed an increasing rate of offending using social media targeted at children.
Mr Kimber said there was a need for general deterrence against this form of offending and petitioned the court to revoke the suspended sentence of the 21-year-old man.
The case review showed an alarming trend of older men who meet their victims in person and then later approach them using social media.
The document showed that offenders met their victims on the bus, at KFC, at karate class, at football practice, while volunteering and even at the funeral of one of the victim’s fathers.
Most offenders were aged in their late teens and 20s however several were aged over 40.
The majority of victims were female and aged in their early teens.