West Gosford: Robert Nicholls charged with travelling to meet teen for sex after Snapchat grooming
A man who groomed a lonely teenager on Snapchat has pleaded guilty to the relatively new offence of travelling to meet his would-be victim for sex, a court has heard.
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A man didn’t care a teenager he had been grooming was just 14 years old and “thought it made the victim more attractive” when he drove him to a secluded lookout for sex, a court has heard.
Robert Nicholls, 30, of Narara, faced Gosford Local Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to possessing child abuse material and travelling to meet a child groomed for sexual activity.
The court heard the second charge was “a very new offence” and as a result there were no meaningful sentencing statistics to compare his offending with others.
The court heard Nicholls was 29 when he met a 14-year-old boy, who was lonely and had been bullied at school, on Snapchat using the quick add function.
An agreed set of facts states during their conversations Nicholls sent the victim a picture of his penis and asked the victim to send photographs of himself.
“The victim sent photographs of his penis and anus to the offender,” the facts state.
“The victim does not remember how many photographs he has sent but states he sent `a pile’ over at least a month.
“The victim got the impression that the offender liked the pictures from the subsequent text messages.”
Nicholls also told the victim he wanted to have sex with him.
“The offender knew the victim’s age, he did not care that he was 14 and thought it made the victim more attractive,” the facts state.
On December 15 last year the victim agreed to meet Nicholls who picked him up in a blue car about 1.30pm and drove to the top of President Hill Lookout at West Gosford.
The facts states the victim brought condoms and lubricant in a black satchel bag and they got in the back seat before police arrived.
Officers noticed Nicholls get back in the front seat and asked them “what are you doing up here?”.
Nicholls said they were step cousins and they had just come up for the drive because “it’s such a beautiful view”.
Police searched the car and found the bag with the condoms and lubricant, along with a white towel in the foot well of the back seat, which Nicholls said was for the gym but later admitted it was his “wank” towel.
The facts state officers looked at Nicholls’ phone and found 11 photos and videos of the naked victim sent via Snapchat.
The victim told police he’d never been to the lookout before and that he was “scared”.
“The victim also told police he felt like if he disappointed the offender, he would never speak to him again and he wanted to maintain the friendship,” the facts state.
Nicholls was arrested and taken to Gosford Police Station where he initially told officers the victim had lied about his age and that as soon as he found out he intended to take him home.
“When challenged by police the offender admits lying and that he knew the victim’s age before today,” the facts state.
He told police they had just gone there to chat and denied discussing using the condoms for sex.
The court heard the victim was lonely and had been bullied when Nicholls groomed him over the course of about two months.
After Nicholls entered pleas of guilty the police prosecutor applied for a detention application, telling the court a full time custodial sentence was inevitable.
However Nicholls’ solicitor Michal Mantaj told the court the number of photographs found on his client’s phone were “not substantial” and the other offence was so new there was “no general range of sentences to go off”.
He said Nicholls may not receive a custodial sentence.
Magistrate Jennifer Price said while imprisonment was likely it wasn’t “certain” and refused the detention application.
She adjourned Nicholls to Gosford District Court on September 29 to set a sentencing date.
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