Whitsunday man pleads not guilty to sending sexual messages to 15yo girl

A Qld man is accused of trying to corrupt an underage teen by sending her sexually explicit requests and videos. But he claims she was not the intended recipient.

A Whitsunday man has pleaded not guilty to intentionally sending explicit messages to a 15-year-old child, claim they had been meant for her mother.

A Whitsunday man accused of trying to corrupt an underage teen has denied claims he intentionally sent her explicit requests and videos, claiming he thought he had been messaging her mother.

He has pleaded not guilty to using electronic communication to procure a child under 16 to engage in a sexual act and two counts of exposing the child to an indecent act by him in the later half of 2023.

The messages in question were sent over Facebook and there was no debate the man authored them and appeared in the videos – the crux of the case was whether or not he intentionally sent them to the 15-year-old girl.

“This trial is about the dangers of the internet, more particularly what a child can be exposed to by an adult who intends them harm,” Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard told the six-man, six-woman jury empanelled on Monday.

Mackay District Court heard the messages included “hey girl”, “what you doing can I lick your p--sy”, “you wanna f--k”, as well as two videos – a 30 second video of him touching his penis and pointing at it and a one minute and nine second video of him laying on a bed touching his penis.

Ms Sheppard said the issue was “whether or not (he) sent those messages … to the Facebook account of (the girl) … knowing she was a child”.

A Whitsunday man has pleaded not guilty to intentionally sending explicit messages to a 15-year-old child, claim they had been meant for her mother.

The court heard it was alleged the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, knew the child – they lived in Proserpine and their respective families were friends.

The court also heard the child had multiple Facebook accounts which she accessed from her own phone and from her mother’s mobile phone which was how the alleged offending came to light.

Ms Sheppard told the jury a lot of the trial would focus on Facebook evidence but the case was really straight forward – the man sent the messages and videos to a 15 year old, knowing it was the account of a 15 year old.

Defence barrister Scott McLennan in a short opening told the jury there was no dispute his client sent the sexual messages to that Facebook account.

“What the defence says in this case is that the intended recipient of those messages wasn’t (the child),” Mr McLennan said, adding when his client was confronted over sending the messages he said he was messaging the child’s mother.

“I’d ask you pay careful attention to a significant body of evidence which shows that this Facebook account was in fact (of) the mother, not her daughter.”

The trial under Judge Michael Burnett continues on Tuesday.