Illawarra man Jarrad Pavric defends ‘revenge porn’ allegations

Jarrad Pavric has denied allegations he sent messages of a sexual nature to a 14-year-old girl and later blackmailed her with intimate photos.

Jarrad Pavric leaves Wollongong Local Court on June 18.

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Editor's Note: In September 2021, Mr Pavric was found not guilty after appealing to the District Court of NSW. Judge Penelope Wass found that the complainant was at times "unconvincing" and "unreliable". Judge Wass also found that the images sent by the complainant were not "intimate images".

 

A 22-year-old man accused of threatening to a release a 14-year-old girl’s lingerie photos after she refused to perform sex acts on him has denied the allegations in court.

Jarrad Pavric faced Wollongong Local Court for the third day of hearing on Tuesday, where he denied sending messages of a sexual nature to the teenage girl, and said he did not threaten to publish intimate photos of her.

Pavric, the son of a serving Illawarra police officer, was cross-examined in court on Tuesday, after being pleading not guilty to two counts of threatening to distribute intimate content without consent, intentionally distributing images without consent and procuring a child for unlawful sexual activity in September 2017.

The Horsley man was one of the first in the state to be charged under new “revenge porn” laws, which carry a penalty of up to three years behind bars and an $11,000 fine.

Police allege Pavric met the teenager via social media app Snapchat, where he requested she send him photos in her underwear.

After she did so, she blocked Pavric’s account. But, less than a minute later, police allege she was contacted by a new Snapchat account and told the photos would be published photos if she did not “give him a blow job” or let him “play with her tits”.

In the days following, Pavric allegedly sent two of the pictures to the girl’s cousin, telling them he was thinking of posting them to Instagram.

Jarrad Pavric. Pic: Facebook.

Police were informed, and they began an investigation, arresting Pavric and seizing computers, mobile phones and electronic equipment from his Horsley home.

The Crown alleges Pavric, 20, is the face behind Snapchat account ‘jazza97mate’ which sent the messages to the girl requesting the photos, as well as the other account, which later blackmailed her over the photos.

The defence argues that while Pavric was the owner and “sole user” of the account, he was not the author of the messages.

During the cross-examination, Pavric told the court he became Snapchat “friends” with the girl, after she added him a few weeks prior to his arrest.

When asked by prosecutor James Ly if he knew the girl prior to this, Pavric said he did not, and that he was never made aware of her age.

“I submit to you that you’re lying because you don’t want to get in trouble,” Mr Ly said.

Pavric told the court the girl sent him photos of herself in lingerie “two or three times” without him asking for them, and that never responded to them.

“I didn’t pay any mind to it,” he said.

When asked by the prosecution about what he and the girl spoke about on Snapchat, he told the court they discussed “bare minimum details” about his life, and he mainly sent photos of himself wearing his virtual reality headset.

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Contrary to the victim’s evidence, he denied sending any messages that were sexual in nature, an told the court he never sent her any naked photos of himself.

The prosecution argued that the girl blocked Pavric after he sent intimate photos of himself to her, however Pavric said he was the one to block the girl after her messages became “too frequent”.

“I blocked her because I was interested in someone else and I wanted to focus on that,” he said.

Pavric also denied contacting the girl’s cousin and sending her lingerie photos to them, threatening to publish them online.

Following the threats, the prosecution said the girl and her brother arrived at the Horsley home Pavric lived at with his mother and grandparents, and requested to see the contents of his phone.

Pavric told the court he did not know who the man at the door was, however, the prosecution said he knew who they were and why they were there.

“I submit to you that you knew why they were there. Because you threatened to release the photos,” Mr Ly said.

Pavric denied this and told the court he showed the contents of his phone to the man as he “had nothing to hide”.

Prosecutor Ly rejected this, and alleged Pavric deleted the photos from his phone before showing it to the victim and her brother.

Pavric again rejected this.

The court also heard that Pavric was forced to give up his studies at the University of Wollongong following his arrest, as the case had “gotten in the way”.

The case was adjourned to the end of August for closing submissions.