Robert Garcia: Warilla grandfather ‘disgusted, ashamed’ after filming himself with child sex doll
An Illawarra grandfather has told a court he is “disgusted in himself” after police found a child-like sex doll he had mutilated and filmed himself having sex with in his unit.
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A Warilla man has told a court he doesn’t have a sexual interest in children despite filming himself having sex with a doll that had been made to look like a little girl.
Robert Garcia was the first person in NSW charged with possessing a child like sex doll, after police found the doll and subsequent footage in his apartment after responding to a concern for welfare in November.
The 52-year-old faced the NSW District Court in Wollongong on Friday, where he told Judge Andrew Haesler he was “disgusted in himself” and that he knew owning, and having sex with the doll was wrong.
In documents tendered to the court, it was revealed police attended Garcia’s home on November 5 last year, after he made a call to the Police Assistance Line.
On the call, Garcia told the operator it was “too late” to help him before hanging up. The phone call triggered a concern for welfare, and prompted officers from Lake Illawarra to attend his Warilla unit.
Police arrived at the empty unit and discovered the doll.
In the documents, police described the doll, which they found in Garcia’s bedroom, as having long blonde hair that had been styled into pigtails, and that it was wearing a pink top and no underwear. More concerning, police discovered a hole had been cut in the crotch area of the doll.
They also located a mobile phone in the house, which contained graphic footage of the grandfather having sex with the doll.
Garcia arrived home shortly after, telling police he was supposed to be at the hospital for mental health treatment, however chose to come home and drink beer instead.
Detectives questioned Garcia about the child abuse material, with the 52-year-old telling them he was an artist and there was nothing wrong with the material.
Two further phones were found at Garcia’s home, which were found to contain a total of 10,000 child abuse images.
He was arrested and charged with one count of possessing a childlike sex doll and one count of producing and possessing child abuse material.
He pleaded guilty to both charges earlier this year.
The court heard at the time of the offending, Garcia was an alcoholic and that he “didn’t remember” downloading a lot of the child abuse material.
“I was doing it when I was drunk, I just didn’t delete them,” he said.
The court also heard Garcia had purchased the sex doll from Kmart around four years prior to his arrest and cut the hole in the crotch about two years after that. The court heard Garcia mutilated the doll after watching child abuse material online, and filmed his own videos with the doll to “copy” what he’d seen on the internet, as well as to “entertain” himself.
Garcia admitted he knew what he was doing was wrong, however denied he felt any sexual feelings toward children.
Despite being arrested in November, Garcia told the court his life had changed from the better, and that he’d stopped drinking since then, and had regained relationships with many of his family members.
“I’d been in a dark place and now I can have real conversations with people and speak about how I feel,” he said.
While his defence lawyer Ben Hart argued against a jail sentence, noting his client had quit drinking and “turned his life around”, Judge Haesler told Garcia to “prepare himself” for a jail sentence.
Before adjourning the matter to Monday for sentence, Judge Haesler urged Garcia not to turn back to alcohol during the anxious wait for Monday afternoon.