Cameron Joseph Martin guilty of grooming 14 year old girl, possessing child exploitation material

A lifetime reportable child sexual offender has been tripped up by undercover cops for the second time after chatting up an officer online he thought was a ‘MILF and her sexy daughter’.

A Bundaberg man caught grooming a 14 year old girl by an undercover police operation was found to have sexually explicit videos involving girls as young as five years old, a Bundaberg court heard.

Cameron Joseph Martin, 37, pleaded guilty in Bundaberg District Court on Tuesday to offences including possessing child exploitation material and grooming a child under the age of 16 years.

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Crown prosecutor Jodie Tame told the court that on March 5, 2023 Martin responded to an advertisement posted on the classifieds website Locanto by Task Force Argos officers.

Purporting to be posted by an adult woman named Stacey, the advertisement said “mum and young daughter will be travelling up to Bondi and hope to have some fun”, the court heard.

A lifetime reportable child sexual offender was ensared by a police sting posing as a 14 year old girl and had sexually explicit videos of girls as young as five.

In response, Martin sent a message to “Stacey” through the Locanto messenger saying “how old is your sexy daughter? I’d love to spend some time with a MILF and her sexy daughter”.

When “Stacey” said her daughter was 14 years old, Martin responded “14 is a great age” and sent sexually explicit messages along with four images showing a naked man with an erect penis.

Martin and “Stacey” exchanged phone numbers, with Martin continuing to send messages detailing the sexual acts he wanted to perform on her 14 year old daughter culminating in an arrangement to meet at a Bundaberg motel on March 25.

On that day at the arranged time, police observed Martin park his vehicle near the motel.

Officers intercepted him while he was still sitting in the vehicle.

When he became aware of the presence of police, Martin pushed his mobile phone against the steering wheel in an attempt to break it but was unsuccessful, the court heard.

Martin was caught by a Task Force Argos police operation posing as the mother of a 14 year old girl hoping "to have some fun" on their trip to Bundaberg.

Under questioning Martin admitted attempting to meet a child at the motel and to having child pornography on his phone.

Upon searching his phone police found an a child exploitation image and video, with the latter showing a pre-pubescent girl involved in sexual acts.

A search of Martin’s laptop at his home uncovered 22 child exploitation videos.

The offending involving the Task Force Argos sting occurred while Martin was on bail for previous possession of child exploitation material charges, involving 10 images police had found on his phone in April 2022 depicting girls under the age of 10 posing naked, one of whom was as young as five years old.

Martin had been previously sentenced for child grooming and exploitation material offences by a Melbourne court in 2017 after being caught through a police operation arranging to meet with a 14 year old girl at a McDonalds fast food restaurant, and had attempted to flee when he saw the police officers.

Judge John Allen KC told Martin “it must have been obvious to you that very young children suffered terribly so as to provide those sorts of images and that they are re victimised by your offending”€.

As a result of this offending Martin was registered as a reportable child sexual offender for life, the court heard.

Martin’s defence barrister, Allana Davie, told the court her client had moved from Melbourne to Bundaberg after serving the Victorian sentence in order to live with his mother, as required by his parole conditions, which left him isolated and without the assistance of support services to help with his rehabilitation.

A psychological report determined Martin was diagnosed with autism and was at medium risk of reoffending.

He had been effectively disowned by his mother since the latest round of offending, the court heard.

Speaking of the child exploitation material found in Martin’s possession, Judge John Allen KC told Martin “it must have been obvious to you that very young children suffered terribly so as to provide those sorts of images and that they are re victimised by your offending”.

“You obviously currently present a real risk to children,” Judge Allen said.

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Judge Allen ordered Martin serve a head sentence of three years and six months, with immediate eligibility for parole due to 374 days served in pre-sentence custody.

Martin was convicted of three counts of possession child exploitation material, three counts of failing to comply with reporting and one count of grooming a child under 16 years.