Central West man jailed for inciting child to commit a sexual act

A Central West man sat slumped in his chair as he was jailed for calling a 14-year-old girl and asking her to meet him for sex.

A Central West man asked his mate’s teenage daughter who was 20 years his junior to meet him for sex.

The matter was before Sydney Central Local Court on Thursday (September 30) and Magistrate Michael Crompton granted a non-publication order, made jointly by the crown and defence, to suppress the names of the victim, offender and the location the offence occurred.

The accused’s lawyer Mike Smith told the court the order was warranted to protect the privacy of the victim who lived in a small town.

Crown solicitor Peter Low pressed the non-publication order due to the high degree of media scrutiny of the accused due to unrelated criminal charges.

Central Local Court, Sydney

“This matter falls outside of a much, much bigger species of offending conduct which has been the subject of significant media publicity,” Mr Low said.

The man pleaded guilty a single charge of intentionally inciting a child age over 10 but under 16 to do a sexual act on them.

Crown solicitor Peter Low told the court the child was 14 years and five months of age at the time of the crime.

“The offender was known to the child. The offender was in the same social circle as the parents of the child,” Mr Low told the court.

“There was a telephone call made in circumstances to avoid detection and facilitate the offence.

“It is not an offence where the crown alleges the sexual act occurred.”

The offender’s identity was suppressed by the court to protect his victim.

The accused’s original charge of procuring a child for unlawful sexual activity was formally withdrawn.

Mr Smith told the court his client was already staring down the barrel of a lengthy jail sentence after striking a plea deal on his unrelated charges.

“He’s not going to be released for a number of years, putting aside any sentence Your Honour imposes,” Mr Smith said.

The offender, who appeared in court via videolink from Clarence Correctional Centre, sat slumped over for most of the proceedings.

The court heard he had been productive during his time on remand for the unrelated offences, taking up jobs as a barber and sweeper.

He was sentenced to 16 months in jail with a non parole period of eight months.

The sentence start was backdated to May 28, 2020.