Redland Bay man on ‘snowballing’ child sex charges granted bail

A father of two facing multiple child sex charges has been warned by a magistrate to shirk the advances of “jailbait”.

A magistrate addressing a 22-year-old father of two alleged to have been captured on video having sex with a 15-year-old girl has urged the man “to keep busy” so that he doesn’t “float around (allegedly) doing these silly things”.

The jarring words came after the magistrate impressed upon the defendant the seriousness of the charges he faces.

Appearing at the Cleveland Magistrates Court on Thursday the unemployed Redland Bay man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was granted bail under strict reporting measures.

Sobbing in the dock the defendant was charged with multiple offences which included one count of carnal knowledge of children under 16 years (and attempts) and three counts of indecent treatment of child under 16 (take photograph etc).

But it was magistrate Deborah Vasta’s sharp words that held the man’s attention.

“Have you ever spent time out at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre?” Magistrate Vasta asked.

“Because you are pretty close to ending up there”.

The court heard the man had handed himself in to police and was prepared to abide by any reporting measures ordered by the court, including wearing a tracking device.

Magistrate Deborah Vasta doesn’t mince words with defendant on child sex charges. Photo: Max Fleet / NewsMail

Defence solicitor Bruce Johnstone acknowledged the “very serious” and “snowballing” charges faced by his client and stated that the alleged relationship had ended.

“He has instructed me he has not had any (alleged) sexual intercourse with her for the last couple of months,” Mr Johnstone said.

However, Magistrate Vasta made clear to the court the precariousness of the alleged evidence.

“He is (allegedly) on video with her – they (the police) have (allegedly) got two videos of him having sex with her,” the magistrate said.

It was further made clear to the defendant that there was no such thing as having a consensual relationship with a child.

“There is a reason why girls under 16 can’t consent; they are not even allowed to consent,” Magistrate Vasta said.

“Because sometimes they think they know what they want … but they don’t have enough life experience to know this is a really, really bad decision.

“That’s why you don’t hang out with girls under 16.”

The magistrate impressed upon the man to halt any contact with the child.

“If she wants to have contact with you just say, ‘I am sorry, you are jailbait, I am not going to make contact with you’.

“And if she contacts you, you go to the police so that the police can tell her if she keeps contacting you, you can go to jail.”

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The defendant was banned from coming within 100 metres of the child and urged to “keep busy”.

“It is important that you start doing something with your life and keep busy because otherwise you (allegedly) float around doing these silly things,” Magistrate Vasta said.

The man will next appear at court on March 18.