Andrew Hayler jailed for offensive online conduct

A Sydney bartender who shared 26 women’s images in vile forums where cowardly predators fantasised about raping them has been handed a substantial jail term, prompting shock, tears and relief.

A cowardly predator who photoshopped his female friends’ heads onto violent porn and posted their pictures in vile “cuck” forums to be sexually objectified has been jailed for at least five and a half years.

Gasps and sobs from some of Andrew Hayler’s 26 female victims broke out in Sydney District Court on Friday as Judge Jane Culver sentenced the former bartender to a maximum of nine years’ jail.

Hayler had pleaded guilty to 28 counts of using a carriage service to offend in relation to the foul online posts – which included 684 posts featuring the women’s pictures and 141 altered pornographic images.

Andrew Hayler, 39.

One site he used then had almost 304,000 users, and at times Hayler encouraged other users to comment their rape fantasies or directly message those women after providing their names and occasionally their professions and suburbs.

Among his victims were several friends and former co-workers – including Ava Heintze, Jessica Stuart, Anna Healey, and Hannah Grundy.

Ms Healey regarded Hayler as one of her closest friends, with him attending her wedding and the pair supporting each other through significant experiences of grief.

Anna Healey is one of 26 victims whose images were shared in a vile online forum by Sydney bartender Andrew Hayler. Picture: Eliza Barr

“I trusted him to be the antithesis of this type of behaviour, I brought him into my life and valued him as a trusted friend and confidante because I really felt he loved me,” Ms Healey said.

“The loss of that trust and friendship is almost more jarring than the actual thing he has done.”

Ms Healey described herself and her fellow victims as in “a horrible club you wouldn’t want anyone to be a part of”.

“I’m grateful a sentence has been handed down to hold him account for what he’s done,” Ms Healey said.

“It needs to be known that this kind of behaviour shouldn’t be tolerated.”

Hannah Grundy is one of 26 victims whose images were shared in a vile online forum by Sydney bartender Andrew Hayler. Picture: Eliza Barr

Hannah Grundy made one of the earliest complaints to police and had the grim task of compiling Hayler’s foul posts – including the unspeakably violent ones he made about her.

She left the courtroom when Hayler offered an apology.

“It sounded like he didn’t think we would ever see it and I don’t think that’s a good enough apology – that website had hundreds of thousands of viewers, it just seemed pretty pathetic," Ms Grundy said.

“There’s nothing he could say to me that would make this better. I will continue to have these photos online with me forever, so his apology doesn’t really mean much.”

Ava Heintze is one of 26 victims whose images were shared in a vile online forum by Sydney bartender Andrew Hayler. Picture: Eliza Barr

Hayler left Ava Heintze too afraid to walk around her own suburb after sharing it in his detestable posts on the websites and Instagram.

“He had my address, he knew where I lived – walking around my suburb when he’d put it on the internet I felt so unsafe,” Ms Heintze said.

“We are seeing this kind of crime more and more and I do think it’s because of a lack of positive role models for a lot of young men – as a society we need to start promoting better role models for young men so they don’t fall into this.”

Jessica Stuart is one of 26 victims whose images were shared in a vile online forum by Sydney bartender Andrew Hayler. Picture: Eliza Barr

Jessica Stuart said the appalling posts about her had changed her life.

“He was someone I considered a friend, for him to take that trust and absolutely betray it – what he did was absolutely humiliating and degrading,” Ms Stuart said.

“Everyone is so strong and incredible and it’s been heartbreaking to hear the impact of what he did to everyone.”

Judge Culver said a psychologist reported Hayler met the diagnostic criteria for a paraphiliac disorder and that his abhorrent behaviour occurred due to his desensitisation to violent porn.

At his sentence hearing, Hayler said he never thought the women would find out and that his foul fantasies would remain within the gross community of like-minded “cucks” he inhabited.

”Even online harm, even if that doesn’t come home to the individual victims, the widespread degradation and objectification of these women could not have been lost on the offender,” Judge Culver said.

“The harm suffered is profound and ongoing – any sense of security has been removed from these women.”

Victims were heard to scoff at suggestions Hayler did not hold any hostile feelings towards them despite his repeated violent and sexual posts urging others to objectify and contact them.

Much of what Hayler wrote is too graphic to publish, but it included describing women as “absolute rp [rape] meat” and asking other users which of the women in an image set they would “take” for themselves or “sell to sex trafficking”.

Hayler will be eligible for parole on December 12, 2029.