Matthew Townsend: Campbelltown police officer to be sentenced for sex with underage victim

A Campbelltown police officer who bribed a 15-year-old schoolgirl for sex with alcohol and vapes while ordering her to keep it a secret will soon learn his punishment.

Mathew Townsend bribed a 15-year-old schoolgirl for sex with alcohol and vapes while ordering her to keep it a secret will soon learn his punishment. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

A disgraced trainee police officer will soon learn his fate after he lured a vulnerable 15-year-old girl he met during a police investigation into having sex with him, and then ordered her to keep it a secret.

Probationary constable Matthew Robert Townsend, 28, pleaded guilty to two counts of having sex with a child aged between 14 and 16, with a judgment day now set for December 4.

Court documents said Townsend reached out to his victim on social media, saying, “you’re cute, would you like to meet up?” last August after the pair met a few days earlier while he was investigating unrelated claims she had been assaulted at her school.

The teenager told investigators she did not know who Townsend was until he revealed he was the police officer she had previously spoken to. He told her not to tell anyone they were in contact, otherwise he would get into “serious trouble”.

Court documents said he asked the teenager about her sexual history and if they would meet to “hook up”.

Townsend will be sentenced at Campbelltown District Court in December.

By late September, he started engaging in sexually explicit conversations with the girl, asking what sexual acts she’d done and if they would be “friends with benefits”.

She agreed not to tell anyone, and he said “I’m happy to buy you food, drinks, alcohol, give you lifts, that kind of stuff”.

During their conversations, the victim expressed concerns she could fall pregnant if Townsend did not wear a condom, but he said, “I’m sure that won’t happen”.

Then, on September 19, Townsend bargained with the victim to buy her alcohol in exchange for sexual favours, saying, “if that is the case, you should definitely let me finish inside you”.

He bought two 10-packs of Vodka Cruisers and one four-pack of Jack Daniels before picking the victim up at a friend’s house and taking her to a carpark.

The pair had sexual intercourse multiple times before he said “you’ve got to promise me you’re not going to tell anyone … we’ll both get in trouble”.

The distressed teenager disclosed what happened to her friend’s mum but said she did not want to tell the police or her mother.

Then, a few days later, Townsend had sexual intercourse with the victim again in exchange for three vapes.

Less than a week later, the teen contacted Townsend to tell him she was pregnant.

Townsend said he would transfer $800 to the teenager for an abortion, telling her, “no one can know I’m the father”, court documents state.

On September 30, the victim had an examination which confirmed she was not pregnant, and the same day, she disclosed what happened to the police.

At Campbelltown District Court on Wednesday, Judge Tanya Smith set a sentencing hearing date on December 4. Both legal parties are set to give submissions, and the judge indicated she might decide Townsend’s fate the same day.

Townsend remains in custody on remand.