Influencer who raped 14-year-old boy has ‘no sexual interest in children’: court
A social media influencer who raped a 14-year-old boy twice in one night has ‘no sexual interest in children’, an expert concluded.
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A social media influencer who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy twice in one night has “no sexual interest in children”, a court has been told.
The 46-year-old woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was jailed earlier this month for two counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child under 16 years old.
A jury found she had climbed into bed with the teenager on an evening in mid-2021 and kissed him.
“Don’t tell your father about this,” the woman told her victim before taking off his clothes and undressing herself.
She then forced the teen to engage in oral and penetrative sex.
On March 1, Judge Sarah Hopkins sentenced the influencer to at least 18 months in jail with a maximum of three years behind bars.
However, the judge told a NSW District Court on Tuesday she had omitted part of her judgment during sentencing proceedings.
She amended the record by clarifying she had relied on expert opinions that the influencer had a “low risk of reoffending”.
Judge Hopkins highlighted the conclusion of forensic psychologist Stephen Woods that there was no evidence the 46-year-old woman had “pedophilic tendencies”.
“Professor Woods (found) she had no sexual interest in children,” she said.
The influencer was three times older than her victim when she snuck into a bed and raped him in the middle of the night.
Judge Hopkins determined the woman had “good prospects of rehabilitation” because “the offences were isolated” and she had committed to abstaining from drugs and alcohol.
During the sentencing, the judge accepted the sexual assailant had been experiencing a “complex combination of comorbid (mental) disorders” at the time of the rape.
“In all probability, it was symptomatically acute at the time of the offending,” she said.
The court heard the woman had previously sought treatment for an eating disorder, anxiety disorder and adjustment disorder.
“In light of my findings as to the connection between the offending and the offender’s mental issues, I accept the offender’s moral culpability is reduced,” Judge Hopkins said on Tuesday.
She also found there was justification for a longer parole period due to the onerous conditions of custody for the influencer, who had been subjected to “threats and harassment” behind bars.
The 46-year-old is likely to remain in protective custody for the remaining length of her sentence due to her profile and the offences she committed.
She will be eligible for release in less than a year, on February 26, 2025. Earlier this month, her lawyer confirmed the 46-year-old woman will appeal her conviction.
The influencer has denied engaging in sexual activity with the teen beyond a kiss, which she said she stopped before it went any further.
However, the jury found her guilty of engaging in oral sex with the teen before having penile-vaginal sex with him in three different positions.
Merely two hours earlier, the influencer was filmed performing a “sexually suggestive” dance for the 14-year-old boy.
In the video shown to the court, she can be seen caressing her bum, lifting her shirt to reveal her stomach, and twerking in front of the victim.
Judge Hopkins previously said the 46-year-old appeared to be “very intoxicated” in the video.
The woman claimed she had drunk one and a half bottles of wine on the night of the rape, while the victim estimated she had consumed twice that amount.
A few days after sexually assaulting him, the court heard the influencer told the teen to “just keep this quiet for a bit”.
Yet in a lawfully tapped phone call a year later, the 46-year-old laughingly admitted her attraction towards the 14-year-old boy.
“I started loving you so much (that) I got it confused, like, I started getting attracted to you,” she told him.
“You’re a man now. You’re not a boy, you’re obviously a man.”
During the call, the influencer urged the victim several times not to tell his father about the late-night sexual assault.
Originally published as Influencer who raped 14-year-old boy has ‘no sexual interest in children’: court