Julian John Lee-Hong, 21, procured a teenage girl for online sex abuse through her gaming parents

A Central Queensland gamer sexually exploited a 14-year-old after meeting her parents through gaming. Now, his crimes and his fiance’s involvement in part of the offending can be revealed.

Julian John Lee-Hong, 21, pleaded guilty on October 27 in Rockhampton District Court to one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, 14 counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 with various subcategories of the offence, and two counts of possessing child exploitation material.He was sentenced on November 11 and had spent 15 days in presentence custody.

A young father, who found a 14-year-old girl to sexually exploit through her online gaming parents, has been sentenced.

Julian John Lee-Hong, 21, pleaded guilty in Rockhampton District Court to one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, 14 counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 with various subcategories of the offence, and two counts of possessing child exploitation material.

He was sentenced on November 11 and had spent 15 days in presentence custody.

Judge Catherine Muir said the girl’s parents met Lee-Hong gaming online with their PlayStation.

She said Lee-Hong sexually exploited the teenager, who lived in Western Australia, through Facebook messenger and video calls.

Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton said the child lodged a complaint with the Australian Centre To Counter Child Exploitation who then contacted Queensland Police Service.

He said police executed a search warrant on Lee-Hong’s residence in January 2021, locating 740 child exploitation images of the victim.

Julian John Lee-Hong, 21ation material. He was sentenced on November 11 and had spent 15 days in presentence custody.

Mr Sutton said when Lee-Hong was confronted by police about his offending, he “almost went to the level of blaming the victim”.

The court heard Lee-Hong’s exploitation of the child took place over an eight-month period – between March 14, 2020, and November 9, 2020.

The abuse involved Lee-Hong getting the child to perform sex acts while in a video call, and have her iPad focus on her as she took showers, while on video calls.

Lee-Hong also masturbated in video calls.

He also had the girl send him photographs of her naked breasts.

“You took advantage of her obvious vulnerability,” Judge Muir said.

Mr Sutton said Lee-Hong recruited his partner in some of the offending and there was one occasion where he recorded his partner without her knowledge.

He said the partner, Hannah McKay, 20, was placed on probation for three years with no conviction recorded after pleading guilty to one count of indecent treatment of a child and one of using electronic communications to procure a child under 16 in Rockhampton District Court in February 2022.

Judge Muir said the victim’s grades had suffered as a result of this offending against her and she felt her friends pitied her.

Defence barrister Maree Willey said her client had been in a relationship with his now-fiancee for many years after meeting her when he was 16 and they have a four-year-old child together.

She said Lee-Hong had a somewhat difficult childhood with his parents separating when he was young and had gone to three primary schools prior to going to a Yeppoon private school.

Ms Willey said her client became homeless at 14-15 years old before moving in with his grandmother and then his father.

She said he had been diagnosed with Autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a depressive disorder and lower-than-average cognitive abilities having been to see a psychologist when he was 14 years old.

Ms Willey said Lee-Hong’s mental health struggled after the search and he voluntarily attended Rockhampton’s Mental Health Unit for a week.

Judge Muir sentenced Lee-Hong to three years in prison, suspended after he serves six months, declared 15 days presentence custody as time served and set a five-year operational period.