Aaron Vincent: Convicted Wollongong sex offender faces NSW Court of Criminal Appeal

A convicted sex offender who detailed his sexual fantasies to support service hotlines has fronted the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal. Here‘s why.

A notorious Wollongong paedophile jailed for making menacing phone calls to support service hotlines in which he detailed sick child sex fantasies has had his sentence appeal thrown out of court.

Aaron Vincent, 35, fronted the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal in August hoping to get a reduction on his sentence of three years and seven months, which was handed to him in Dubbo District Court last year after he pleaded guilty to four counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.

However, justices David Davies, Julie Ward and Desmond Fagan dismissed the appeal in a judgement handed down on Wednesday, finding the sentence had been appropriate given the nature of the offending.

Aaron Vincent was an inmate at Long Bay jail when he made the calls. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

The court heard Vincent made nine calls between October 2018 and August 2019 to domestic violence and sexual assault counselling service 1800 RESPECT, in which he used a fake name and told a hotline operator he sexually abused an 18-month-old girl.

In another call, Vincent said he carried out “lots of sexual abuse and sexual assaults” on a young girl and sold movies which featured her.

According to the judgement, Vincent made calls to the smoking support service Quitline, Family and Community Services and Crime Stoppers.

He told police a desire for sexual gratification was the motivation behind the call to Family and Community Services, in which he discussed bathing with a young girl and her sitting on his lap.

“If I give a false name, there’s a good chance that it’s a sexual gratification purpose,” Vincent said to police.

He later admitted to police that the acts were false, but he had fantasies about carrying them out.

During the August hearing, Vincent‘s legal team argued Judge Nanette Williams had set the non-parole period too high when taking into account the fact he was currently serving terms of imprisonment for other offences.

They also said the judge should have backdated the sentence to begin in April 2020, rather than September 2020, and that the overall sentence was excessive.

However, the court rejected each of the grounds of appeal, finding the sentence was not “manifestly excessive” and Judge Williams had not been at fault to date the sentence from when she did.

“The offences were committed less than four months after [another judge] had sentenced the applicant for identical offending and for the same offending for which he had been sentenced in the Local Court,” Justice Davies said.

“[The current sentence] was well within the sentencing judge’s discretion, having regard to the indicative sentences and the persistent offending over a number of years.”

Vincent will be eligible to apply for parole in January next year.