Man, 54, found guilty of indecently assaulting teen girl in Robertson

A man indecently assaulted an adolescent in front of a church and at his swimming pool after he posed as a teenage girl on Facebook to gain the ‘little hottie’s’ trust.

A 54-year-old man has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl several times while posing as a teenage girl on Facebook to gain her trust.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in Moss Vale Court last Monday after pleading not guilty to four counts of indecent assault of a person under 16 years old.

The Southern Highlands man entered a guilty plea to using a carriage service to send indecent material to a minor.

The court heard the man was 47 when he began contacting the 14-year-old victim through a fake Facebook account he created. Under the guise of an invented teenage girl’s Facebook account, the offender sent over 1000 messages to the victim “to avoid detection and suspicion”.

The man appeared in Moss Vale Court on January 17. Picture: Wesley Lonergan

However, the court heard he also sent the teenager 2130 messages using his own name.

“There were a number of messages which were sexualised or suggestive in nature,” Magistrate Mark Douglass said.

The magistrate said the offender minimised the seriousness of the messages when he admitted to the exchanges.

“To suggest it was banter between friends in my view is a lie,” he said.

Magistrate Douglass told the court the messages revealed the man telling the teen “you’re just too good to be true” and calling her “smoking hot” and a “little hottie”.

“The words … are an example that harpoon any assertion that the complaints made by the complainant are concocted,” he said.

The magistrate determined the thousands of texts and Facebook messages demonstrated “a clear and explicit continuing interest in the complainant” which supported the allegations of indecent assault.

The court heard the messages were sent over two years, during which the man indecently assaulted the victim four times.

The first assault took place on the front steps of a Southern Highlands church when the-then 47 year old reached down and patted the teen’s breast, the court heard.

When the victim moved away, the court heard the offender jokingly said “I’m a bad man”. He said the same thing after he put his arm around her shoulders and patted her breast again in a second assault.

The victim told her friends the third time he touched her breast in a public setting during a local dance, the court heard.

The Southern Highlands man is working while on bail. Picture: Wesley Lonergan

When the victim was 15 years old, the court heard the man invited her to his pool to go swimming and asked her to wear a bikini.

While she had a towel wrapped around her, the court heard the man ran both his hands up her towel and put his hands on her buttcheeks before she ran forward “so he could not touch her”.

Magistrate Douglass deemed the offences “opportunistic groping” and found the man was guilty of all charges.

“His constant denials are hollow and lack weight,” he said.

The man is on bail and will return to court in March for sentencing.