A Hobart businessman has been sentenced to jail after grooming local girls online for sex

A Hobart project manager showered young victims with attention, gifts and dirty messages in an effort to procure explicit images, videos and sex. NAMED >>

Stuart Rainbird used Snapchat, Instagram to groom Hobart girls. Picture: Brett Hartwig

A Hobart businessman who preyed on several girls and groomed them using Instagram and Snapchat has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for child abuse crimes.

Stuart Dean Rainbird, 57, is a Hobart-based project manager who specialises in manufacturing and mechanical engineering.

In 2022 Rainbird was charged with a slew of offences, including two counts of indecent assault, multiple counts of grooming and one count of procuring a child to film sexual abuse.

In September a jury in the Tasmanian Supreme Court found him guilty of all the charges, and on Friday Justice Robert Pearce sentenced him to two years and three months in prison, with a non parole period of half that.

The court heard that the abuse took place between the years 2014-2018 and involved three girls not related to him.

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The girls were aged between 11 and 15 at the time of the abuse and told police that Rainbird befriended them on social media by commenting on their posts. But “friendly” chats quickly turned dark as Rainbird probed them with personal and sexual questions.

One girl told the court that Rainbird told her she had an “attractive bottom” and asked what sexual positions were her favourite.

Two of the girls also said Rainbird had touched them. One girl said he’d touched her breast and thigh while another said he had grabbed her in a “bear hug” and touched her breasts.

The most serious charge of procurement related to a 15-year-old girl who was friends with one of Rainbird’s earlier victims.

The project manager approached her on Instagram and began by commenting on how good she looked in tight gym gear.

The nature of the conversations quickly turned sexual and Rainbird sent the girl images and videos of himself masturbating. In turn, he coaxed the girl to send him sexually explicit pictures, including videos of her masturbating.

“You knew this was child exploitation material,” Judge Pearce said.

Supreme Court of Tasmania. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Richard Jupe

Once the girl complied with Rainbird’s requests for explicit content she began asking him for gifts and money. She asked for the gifts to be dropped off in a secret location as she was afraid of getting in the car with Rainbird to receive them.

The Judge said it was “logical” that Rainbird’s interest in the girl could have evolved to acts of physical sexual abuse, and her fear of getting in his car was justified.

The court heard the abuse was first disclosed in 2021 when the three victims were talking and discovered they had all had similar experiences with Rainbird, who Justice Pearce said had been “leading a double life” for many years.

The three victims had long-lasting psychological impacts from the offending, which included “a mistrust of adult men”, Judge Pearce said.

In sentencing Rainbird, Judge Pearce noted his long marriage, stable career and happy family life. He also noted that Rainbird had himself been the victim of prolonged sexual abuse, and had developed PTSD as a result, for which he was in treatment.

However the Judge said the community must understand that offending against children – particularly in the unruly digital space – constituted a serious offence.

“The instances of unlawful sexual acts were not isolated but extended over a significant period of time,” Judge Pearce said.

Rainbird appeared cowed and emotional in the dock and spent much of the sentencing with his head bowed, supported by nearly a dozen family members. He will be eligible for parole in a little over a year.

Originally published as A Hobart businessman has been sentenced to jail after grooming local girls online for sex