Liverpool Court: Man charged with grooming, possess child abuse material

A man accused of harbouring pornographic pictures of a 15-year-old girl on his phone allegedly attempted to flee police after a concerned witness saw the pair at a park during a midnight meet up.

An alleged child groomer’s case was heard at Liverpool Local Court. Picture: Matthew Vasilescu

A Hoxton Park man accused of harbouring pornographic pictures of a 15-year-old girl on his phone allegedly attempted to flee police after a concerned witness caught the pair at a park during a midnight meet up.

The 22-year-old man was granted bail on Thursday after he appeared via audio visual link at Liverpool Local Court and entered no pleas to grooming a child for unlawful sexual activity, two counts of intentionally touching a child and possessing child abuse material, as his siblings gathered in the courtroom.

Magistrate Imad Abdul-Karim said the defendant – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was facing “serious allegations”, including grooming the 15-year-old child by “sharing intimate images”.

“The alleged sexual touching involved … allegedly kissing the victim in a public place,” Mr Abdul-Karim said.

“The most serious of allegations occurred in the early hours of 1.40am in a public place which involved certain comments which will not be repeated because of the sensitive nature of what is alleged.”

The man must report daily o Green Valley police station daily as part of hisbail conditions.

Mr Abdul-Karim said a witness called police who made themselves known to the man and he allegedly ran from incoming officers.

The police prosecutor handed “non sensitive” images to the magistrate to “capture the (alleged) victim’s age” which “clearly” proved she was underage.

“It is apparent by her age that one of the photos is unedited, which shows her as a young child clearly under the age of 16,” he said.

“The accused ultimately chose to meet (with the alleged victim) at the early time of 1am in a public park to commit the offences.”

While the prosecution said the man defence would be that he “thought she was above the age of 16”, he argued if the accused was aware she was younger, he would “commit the offences regardless”.

“The other aspect to consider is he ran from police and told the victim to run from police,” the prosecutor said.

“If he believed she was above the age of 16, there would be no need to run from police or hide their identity”.

The prosecutor further alleged there was child abuse material on the man’s phone “yet to be categorised” and the material “relates solely to the (alleged) victim at this point”.

He said the accused would require a strict curfew, a no contact condition with the complainant and only possess one mobile phone.

The defendant’s lawyer said it was up to the prosecution to “prove beyond reasonable doubt” that his client knew the girl was under 16 and the allegations were “out of character”.

“It’s not clear what’s identified in the (alleged) intimate images, but he denies the allegations,” he said.

“The issue here is police proving that he knew her age and there will be a significant time until that is finalised.”

The man was granted bail on the condition he reports to Green Valley police station daily, not leave his home between 7pm and 6am, avoid contacting the complainant, only have one phone and is prohibited from using social media.