Willie Arthur Mareko pleads guilty to 18 ‘horrendous’ child abuse offences

A “truly horrendous” online monster paid to watch and direct little children being sexually abused to sate the depths of his depravity, a Queensland court has heard. Warning: Disturbing content

Willie Arthur Mareko has been jailed for horrendous child sex abuse and exploitation offences.

A perverted and “truly horrendous” online monster paid to watch and direct little Filipino children being sexually abused to sate the depths of his depravity.

Justice Graeme Crow said the former Hamilton Island man’s behaviour in seeking out and sending money overseas for child sexual exploitation incentivised desperately poor families to abuse their own children.

Willie Arthur Mareko made requests to 11 woman in the Philippines for sexual abuse material in relation to 13 children.

Mackay Supreme Court heard he received it in relation to four victims aged 12 years and under between 2018 and 2021 while he was living in Northern Territory and the Whitsundays.

Horrific details of his vile conduct including offering to pay a mother to watch her children eat faeces and asking if she would ever kill her children, were revealed on Tuesday.

Willie Arthur Mareko paid almost $50,000 to poor families to engage in sexual activities online.

WATCHED LIVESTREAM OF GIRL BEING VIOLATED

The court heard this included a livestream of a four to seven year old girl being violated by a woman who then performed a sexual act on the child, and directing a little boy to be placed in demeaning positions in front of a camera while naked.

This publication will not go into further details about the requests Mareko made of the women because of their disgusting and perverted nature.

“Many, many children have been severely damaged by your actions,” Justice Crow said before jailing Mareko for 14 years.

Mareko, 36, pleaded guilty to 18 charges including procuring a child to engage in sexual activity outside Australia, using a carriage service for child abuse material, causing a child to engage in sexual activity with another person and grooming a child to engage in sexual activity outside Australia.

MAREKO MADE 807 PAYPAL TRANSACTIONS

The court heard he was aged 30 to 34 when he paid between $20 and $80 at a time to the women he contacted.

The court heard Mareko made 807 transactions via PayPal to recipients in the Philippines totalling $48,540.09, which equated to 21.7 per cent of his salary.

However his barrister Paul Rutledge argued the money related to the occasions his client was charged over was quite minimal.

Mr Rutledge said the total number of transactions could be used to infer that the instances for which he had been charged were not isolated, but it would be “entering into dangerous territory” to punish him for them.

“He’s not to be punished for a course of conduct ... said to be behind the transactions referred to … he’s to be punished for the occasions for which he is charged,” Mr Rutledge said.

Mr Rutledge told the court his client also could not be punished over the conversation regarding faeces nor should it be inferred he was seeking a snuff film as he was not charged over that chat.

FOUND WITH VILE VIDEOS OF CHILD ABUSE

Mareko was also caught possessing vile videos of child abuse when Townsville detectives raided his home on Hamilton Island where he was working in hospitality.

Justice Crow labelled Mareko’s offending as “truly horrendous” and involved actively directing the conduct of adult women in abusing their children for payment.

“The gravity of the offending is the abuse of the children overseas,” Justice Crow said.

“We’ve got … money being sent to incentivise desperately financial people in the Philippines to abuse their own young children.”

The court heard Mareko had no prior criminal history.

NO CRIMINAL HISTORY, NO EXCUSES

After the charges were read out Mareko apologised for this offending.

“I have no excuses,” he said.

“I realise the magnitude of the situation.”

He must spend at least eight years in jail before he can apply for parole. He has already spent 692 days in pre sentence custody which was declared time already served.