Rhys Bennett Nelson: Snapchat child groomer awaits his sentence

An Illawarra man whose horrific stash of child abuse material was exposed after being caught grooming a 15-year-old on Snapchat had a “troubled childhood” a court has heard. Warning: Graphic content.

A Figtree man who tried to coerce a 15-year-old girl to send him explicit images on Snapchat before being caught with more than 150 items of child abuse material has fronted court ahead of his sentencing.

Rhys Bennett Nelson, 22, previously pleaded guilty to grooming a child between the ages of 14 and 16 for unlawful sexual activity and three counts of possessing child abuse material.

In Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday, Nelson appeared alongside half-a-dozen supporters, with his legal team telling Magistrate Claire Girotto their client had a “very trouble childhood” and is ”experiencing depression”.

Magistrate Girotto suggested the only aspect setting him apart from similar offenders was his youth, but she knocked back the possibility of invoking a Section 11, which would defer the sentence for up to a year in order to allow the offender a chance to demonstrate rehabilitation had taken place.

Nelson began grooming the minor in September 2021, when he added the 15-year-old on Snapchat with the girl assuming they were around the same age given they shared many mutual friends on the app.

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.

More than 150 pieces of child abuse material were found on Rhys Bennett Nelson’s electronic devices. Picture: Facebook

However, 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 did not 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.

Rhys Bennett Nelson groomed a 15-year-old girl on Snapchat.

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.

In October last year, 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 police station to be interviewed and 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”.

Rhys Bennett Nelson leaving Wollongong Courthouse on Wednesday. Picture: Dylan Arvela

He said to police he “had been hacked a couple of times”, though 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”.

Magistrate Girotto told the court she “wanted to think about this one”, adjourning sentencing for two weeks with Nelson‘s bail to continue.