‘It was next level’: Why I went to the police over Knox chat room

Mark Morri expected dirty photos, inappropriate video and bravado-driven dialogue in a chat room of teen boys. But the references to sex acts on children and vile footage went beyond that.

The images and language in the Gang Gang chat room shared by a group of students shocked and disgusted me — it was a state I thought I was pretty well beyond after 40 years as a crime reporter.

Even photos of people who have been murdered, tortured and hearing twisted evidence given in court did not affect me the way some of the material in this chat room did.

Those were deeds done by evil people, many victims of abusive homes, some mentally ill or others carried out in a drug-fuelled frenzy.

But this was teenage boys from some of the wealthiest families in Sydney. No doubt some will go on to be lawyers, politicians and captains of industry and that frightened me because the small glimpse of what I saw was disgusting.

It was way beyond what I considered to be the expected pornographic internet exposure which is known to be dangerous enough.

A screenshot from the Gang Gang chat room. Pictuire: Supplied

And it wasn’t a few comments of bravado associated so often with adolescence males.

It was next level.

When I was told about the chat room and what was in it by a source I expected some dirty photos, maybe some inappropriate video and immature dialogue expected of that age group.

But when I learned what was in the group, I was stunned.

The references to sex acts on children and some of the video clips were well beyond that.

The decision to pass on the information to the police was not done lightly or quickly.

I didn’t want to make grief for those involved if it was just stupid high jinks.

I grappled with it, thinking that maybe I was reading too much into testosterone charged internet chat that did not exists in my day. Maybe I was just an old fuddy duddy who was overreacting.

But after describing the contents to a number of police and experts I realised that the decision to evaluate what was happening in this space was not mine to make but for professionals in this field and now that material is in the hands of the NSW Police Child Abuse and Sex crimes unit.

Even if they see no criminality or come back saying that it is in fact over-the-top teenage behaviour, I’m very comfortable in exposing this because I think every parent in every school should know that impressionable teenagers are dabbling in a secret and dark world that we have to address.