Adelaide DJ Nicholas Emmanuel Athans found guilty of four counts of procuring a child to engage in a sexual activity

An Adelaide DJ who was a fixture at clubs on Hindley Street has been found guilty of grooming four young girls he found through his business Facebook page.

Nicholas Athans, a DJ and event promoter, has been found guilty of four counts of grooming underage girls. NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

An Adelaide DJ has been found guilty of trying to procure four underage girls for sex through his business Facebook page.

Nicholas Emmanuel Athans, 26, of Ridleyton, pleaded not guilty to propositioning the four young girls, including sending them photos of his genitalia.

On Friday, Judge Sophie David found Athans guilty of all four charges.

Athans committed the four offences from early 2016 to mid-2017 when he sent explicit photos to the girls over social media.

During the trial in July last year, prosecutor Ryan Williams said Athans used the Facebook page linked to his business, Yeah Hard Entertainment, to find the four girls.

The business promoted and organised underage dance parties, including high school formal afterparties.

He then used his private Facebook page to contact the victims.

During the trial Judge David heard that Athans told one of the girls via i-Message that he was “bored”, “wanting to hang”, and that she should “come over, I’ll make it worth your while”.

Nicholas Athans, a DJ and event promoter, has been found guilty of four counts of grooming underage girls. Picture: Caleb Bond

Athans provided a Snapchat username to the girl and later used the photo-based app – where images are erased after a short period of time – to send her photos of his genital area.

The court heard that Athans offered two of the girls tickets to one of his events if they “sent him something” over the online app.

In one case he sent an explicit photo at the same time as offering the free tickets.

Athans was a fixture at Red Square nightclub and had also performed at underage dance events at large club like HQ.

In some of the messages to a teenage victim he alluded to walking her through security at Red Square even though she was under age.

“If you don’t text me you won’t come see me DJ at Red Square,” he wrote.

Athans was arrested in February 2017 and charged with the four offences.

At trial there was no question that the four victims had received the messages, but Anthony Allen SC, for Athans, argued that his client had not been identified as the person who sent them.

In her published judgment, Judge David said Athans had sent photos of himself wearing Calvin Klein underwear in bed to one of his victims.

On one evening he sent six explicit photos to the teenage victim.

Underwear identical to those in the messages were seized from Athans’ house.

Descriptions from several of Athans victims of the background in the explicit photos matched the photos and videos taken by police from inside the bedroom of his Ridleyton home.

Judge David concluded that the prosecution had successfully identified Athans as the owner of the Facebook and Snapchat profiles which had sent messages to the girls.

She also said she was satisfied that Athans was the figure in the explicit photos.

Anthony Allen SC, for Athans, asked for an adjournment of eight weeks to prepare sentencing submissions for his client.

Judge David granted the request and allowed Athans’ bail to continue.

He will face court again in March.