Rhys Bennett Nelson: Child abuse stash uncovered after man’s Snapchat grooming exposed
An Illawarra man’s horrific collection of child abuse material has been uncovered after he was caught grooming a minor on Snapchat. Warning: Graphic content.
Illawarra Star
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A Figtree man who groomed a 15-year-old girl on Snapchat has been caught with more than 150 items of child abuse material in his possession.
Rhys Bennett Nelson, 22, has been charged with grooming a child between the ages of 14 and 16 for unlawful sexual activity and three counts of possessing child abuse material.
Nelson pleaded guilty to the offences earlier this year and was due to be sentenced in Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday, however, Magistrate Claire Girotto adjourned the matter until August for the offender to undergo a mental health assessment.
In September last year, Nelson added the 15-year-old girl on Snapchat and she accepted on the assumption they were around the same age due to how many mutual friends they had.
Nelson initially sent her photos of a ceiling corner, parts of his face, the interior of a car and his arm where a tattoo was visible.
The girl told Nelson she was gay and not interested in him.
Later that month, Nelson sent the girl a message asking “Do you wanna come for a drive?”.
“No,” she replied.
“I can see you have a tattoo and that tells me you are too old for me.”
Nelson continued to message her, but she ignored him.
The following day, the girl sent a “random” Snap to multiple people on her account, including Nelson, who replied asking for a picture of her body.
She refused, however, Nelson didn’t relent and an hour later he sent her a video of him masturbating with the message “WYD” which means ”What are you doing”.
The girl was “shocked and felt sick” and told the offender she didn’t want to see the video, reiterating she was not interested in him and that she was 15.
Nelson continued to pester the girl who took a screenshot of the conversation.
“Mate I said I didn’t want to see it so keep it to yourself you weird c***. How old are you,” she said in one message.
“I already said I’m too old for you but I want your body,” Nelson replied before revealing he was 21.
“Mate I’m 15,” she said.
Nelson’s harassment continued with him saying “I can’t help myself” and ”I want to be inside u”.
The girl told her mother and found Nelson’s Instagram account before reporting him to police.
On Monday, October 12, police arrested Nelson and seized two smartphones, an external hard drive, a laptop and a PlayStation which were stored in his bedroom cupboard.
He was taken to Lake Illawarra Command where officers discovered Nelson’s habit for hoarding child abuse material.
On an iPhone police unearthed 130 child abuse videos and images including one where a group of children were engaging in sexual activities with one another.
A further 1393 pornographic images were located on the iPhone.
Police also found a further 15 items of child exploitation content across his Samsung Galaxy smartphone and Lenovo laptop.
Police interviewed Nelson who told them he hadn’t used Snapchat “for about a month” and that the conversations he had with the girl “didn’t sound familiar”.
He said to police he “had been hacked a couple of times”, although he admitted he did send a video of him masturbating which he “probably sent it to multiple people at the same time including men and women”.
Nelson said he was “pretty sure” all the people in the videos and images on his devices were over the age of 16, before he was shown one of the pictures on one of the devices which he agreed was of a child.
Despite this, he said “I’m not into children or anything like that”.
Nelson also revealed he was in a Snapchat group called “Freaky” which exchanged pornographic images.
“Most of them (the images) are adults... sometimes they send these young ones,” he said before adding “but once you save the photos they all save together at once”.
He told police he didn’t “pay much attention” to the images of the “young ones”.
Nelson will be sentenced on Tuesday, August 2.
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