Ryan Suttle paid teenage girls for sex and filmed them over three years of abuse

A Dapto man committed vile sexual abuse against several teenagers for three years after picking them up on Instagram. Ryan Suttle, 26, repeatedly paid some of his young victims for sex with extra if he was allowed to film them.

• Comanchero bikie on bail after ‘pub punch’
• Magistrate: ‘no such thing as recreational drugs’

A Dapto man paid vulnerable teens as young as 14 he met on Instagram to have sex with him, with a bonus if he could film them.

Ryan Suttle, 26, pleaded guilty to 23 sex offences over three years including sexual intercourse with children aged 14 to 16, producing child abuse material and child prostitution after he paid his victims up to $50 to perform sex acts on him – with $10 extra if he filmed it.

The court heard Suttle met most of his victims on Instagram while pretending to be a teenager himself before moving communication to Snapchat, where he began to proposition the young girls for sexual pictures and acts.

During a sentencing hearing at Wollongong District Court Suttle’s solicitor Matthew Johnston SC said Suttle was depressed due to a back injury when he committed the offences.

“He was injured in 2015, and it’s not to excuse his conduct but puts it into context,” Mr Johnston said.

“There were underlying issues with his back, and sciatica – he had time off work and off sport, so there was a level of depression.”

Ryan Suttle pleaded guilty to 23 sex offences over three years.

However, police prosecutor Natalie Olender told the court Johnston played 21 games of football – amounting to a full season except the grand final – in 2016 after he had recovered as he continued to engage in the horrific sexual abuse.

“Some of these offences occurred when he was playing the best soccer he ever had,” Ms Olender told the court.

“He could not have been at home with a bad back, depressed about the inability to play soccer and having a meaningful life.”

Judge Andrew Haesler agreed Suttle’s injuries and mental state did not mitigate his crimes.

“It may well be that he was in pain and distressed,” Judge Haesler said.

“But it’s not an excuse.”

Many of Suttle’s victims complied with his requests for sexual pictures and, in some cases, he sexually abused them in their own beds.

In other cases he picked up his victims in his car before driving them away to commit the sexual abuse.

One of Suttle’s most vulnerable victims was a cannabis and ecstasy user when she accepted $60 to let him film her performing sexual acts with him in his car.

“The offender messaged the complainant on May 12, 2017 and the two had an exchange, for the complainant to be paid $40 for performing oral sex on the offender and video it for $20,” the agreed police facts stated.

On another occasion a 14-year-old victim performed oral sex on Suttle while he filmed her inside his family home after a dinner.

Other descriptions of sexual abuse which Suttle committed against several teenage girls under the age of 16 and then filmed are too graphic to be repeated.

Suttle sometimes picked up his victims in his car before driving them away to commit the sexual abuse..

One victim said she “wanted to kill herself” after Suttle’s sexual abuse when she was only 14.

“I had never done anything sexual with a guy and I wanted it to be special,” she wrote.

“This man ruined my perspective on men.”

Another girl said she felt “dirty and disgusting” after the abuse.

“I remember the way my body hurt during and after our encounters,” she wrote.

“When I was first contacted (by police) about the matter, I wasn’t nervous or upset – I was relieved.

“I felt like I had grown wings, I couldn’t wait for this to be over.”

Suttle continued to communicate with at least two of his victims up until March 2018 while he was on police bail after he was initially charged in February 2018.

He has now been in custody for 16 months after police subsequently found several child abuse videos created in the course of his offending on his mobile phone in April 2018.

In one video a girl is seen looking at the camera while performing a sex act on him while another girl simulates a sex act with a banana.

“That was eight days before his arrest,” Ms Oleander said.

Wollongong Local Court. Picture: Steven Bell

One victim provided police screenshots of his brazen communication, including one coarse exchange about meeting up in a Wollongong shopping centre.

“That included a message that she opened in the presence of police with a picture of him holding his penis and another of him showing his face,” Ms Olender told the court.

Judge Haesler agreed with Ms Olender’s submission Suttle used Snapchat because the app leaves no record of communication.

“Once his phone was able to be searched he had stored a series of videos on there … which police were able to use to track down most of the complainants,” Judge Haesler added.

In a handwritten letter to the court Suttle said he was “deeply ashamed and disappointed” about his “disgusting behaviour towards the young girls.

“Being incarcerated has been very tough with many full days locked in a cell, generally only getting out four to six hours a day and only one visit a week to see loved ones,” Suttle wrote.

“It has been a hard lesson but a lesson I deserve.”

Suttle also said he aspired to run his family business.

“My parents started the business over 27 years ago and my goal is to take it over,” Suttle wrote.

“I will work towards earning the trust back I once had with my family, friends and the wider community.”

The court also heard Suttle had a gambling addiction and debts, including to his former partner, of $2500.

“But it’s not going and putting a few bob on the dogs or the horses, it’s engaging in sexual activities with people he picked up on Snapchat,” Judge Haesler said.

Suttle will be sentenced at Wollongong District Court on October 3.

Love local news? Visit the Illawarra Star online for daily exclusive news.