Joel Franklin Westgarth jailed for giving a 13-year-old girl four tattoos

A young father has been jailed after he made the “highly inappropriate” decision to give a 13-year-old girl four tattoos all over her body.

A young father has been jailed after he gave a 13-year-old girl four tattoos while on home detention for other offending.

Joel Franklin Westgarth, 23, made the “foolish and irresponsible” decision to permanently mark a minor while he was tattooing himself.

During sentencing, the District Court heard a 13-year-old girl was spending time with her 14-year-old friend at Glenelg East on Australia Day. Westgarth was staying at the property on home detention.

The court heard Westgarth was tattooing himself and the victim asked him to tattoo her as well.

The victim’s mother messaged her on January 27 to ask if she was OK, to which she responded she’d made a mistake and had been given four tattoos.

Joel Westgarth pleaded guilty to tattooing a minor. Photo: Facebook

The court heard the victim’s tattoos included a little ‘E’ on her finger, a love heart on her thigh, a cross on her inner arm and a name on her ankle.

“In early March, her aunty saw a video depicting (the victim) receiving one of the tattoos and you were performing as the tattooist,” said Judge Mary-Louise Hribal, SA’s chief magistrate.

Westgarth, of Murray Bridge, pleaded guilty to performing a body modification on a minor.

The court heard the young father had previously worked in a timber business.

Westgarth was jailed for one year and 10 months in May, with a non-parole period of one year, for domestic violence offending that included assault causing harm.

Judge Hribal said Westgarth’s actions were “highly inappropriate” and sentenced him to two months and three days jail.

She extended his current non-parole period by one month.

“It was foolish, irresponsible of you to have tattooed her,” Judge Hribal said.

“Given the fact that tattoos are lasting and require considerable effort and expense to remove and that’s not always successful.”