Killarney Vale: Craig James Fisher sentenced for online grooming

A judge has described a 56-year-old man’s offending as “extremely serious” and “disturbing” when the paedophile tried to procure a young girl for sex only to be talking with police the whole time.

A man, 56, of Killarney Vale, has been sentenced after pleading guilty to three counts of procuring a child for sexual activity and one count of inciting a child to sexually touch another person.

A further count of inciting a sexual act towards a child was placed on a Form 1 certificate and taken into account during sentencing.

Craig James Fisher appeared via video link at Gosford District Court on Friday where Judge David Wilson described Fisher’s offending as “extremely serious” and “extremely disturbing”.

Giving evidence Fisher told the court he had been medically retired from his job when he started drinking a lot and found himself prowling internet chat rooms.

“I was miserable, I can’t explain it,” he said.

“It was all just like a fantasy thing, I had no intention of meeting.”

Fisher was sentenced in Gosford District Court on Friday. (AAP Image/Sue Graham)

The court heard police from the Child Exploitation Internet Unit assumed the fictitious online identity of a 36-year-old woman who had a nine-year-old daughter.

On September 29, 2020, police logged into a social networking site where Fisher was using the username “ozziejoe”.

He introduced himself to police as “Craig 54 from nsw” and the police introduced themselves as “jocie 36 from nsw”.

During the conversation the police assumed identity stated she had a nine-year-old daughter and Fisher asked if she had an email he could add her to a Skype chat.

Later he contacted her via Skype where he engaged in sexually explicit conversations stating the things he would like to do to the mother and her daughter.

He also exposed himself to her using his computer’s video camera and asked to meet them.

Fisher was arrested at his Shortland Ave home and taken to Wyong Police Station where he participated in a recorded interview.

He denied being sexually attracted to children but conceded he had done the wrong thing and “got carried away with it”.

At his sentence hearing Fisher told the court he did fantasise about children at the time but maintained he never intended to “meet up”.

However the court heard he did not meet in person because he did not receive a photo of the child as he requested.

“I feel terrible sir, I feel disgusted with myself and I’m full of remorse,” he said.

Judge Wilson sentenced Fisher to five years jail with a non-parole period of two years and six months.

With time served since his arrest on November 20, 2020, he will first be eligible for release on May 19, 2023.

“There is no doubt, offending of this type is extremely serious,” Judge Wilson said.