Ruijie Cui, 38: Balgowlah Heights dad allegedly tried to groom 13yo girl for sex over internet, Manly court hears

A northern beaches’ father of two allegedly groomed, who he thought was a 13-year-old girl, to have sex with him.

A northern beaches’ father of two appeared in Manly Local Court on Thursday charged with trying to groom a 13-year-old girl for sex over the internet. (AAP IMAGE / MONIQUE HARMER)

A northern beaches’ dad allegedly tried to convince a 13-year-old girl, through internet chats, to have sex with him because he was “lonely and depressed”, Manly Court has heard.

Ruijie Cui, 38, of Balgowlah Heights, who has two young daughters, was arrested after allegedly having sexually explicit online conversations with whom he thought was an adolescent girl.

But the “fictitious person”, according to documents tendered to court on Thursday, was an officer from the NSW Police State Crime Command’s Child Exploitation internet Unit.

A Balgowlah Heights father of two has been charged with trying to groom a 13-year-old girl for sex, over the internet. File picture: Pixabay

Mr Cui is facing one count of use carriage service (mobile phone or tablet) to groom a person under 16 years for sex. He is yet to enter a plea.

During a bail application hearing, the court was told that Mr Cui had been on remand in prison since his arrest in September and was currently in protective custody for his own safety.

The alleged online grooming offence took place between May 20 and June 1 this year at Balgowlah Heights.

Manly Police Station. Picture: Jim O'Rourke

In a document tendered to court police alleged that Mr Cui used the carriage service to “transmit a communication to another person, namely a fictitious person.”.

Police alleged he did this “with the intention of grooming the recipient to engage in sexual activity with him”.

“The recipient is someone with the sender believes to be 13 years (old).”

Police opposed bail, telling Magistrate Robyn Denes that Mr Cui was a potential risk to the community and that he may commit further alleged offences if released from custody.

Mr Cui’s solicitor Vinny Vijay said that his client had been going through a period of “loneliness and depression” and had made “full admissions” in a record of interview with police.

Mr Vijay told the court that the alleged offence was “relatively unsophisticated offending” and that Mr Cui did not make any attempt to mask his identification online.

In making her decision to grant Mr Cui strict conditional bail, Magistrate Denes said his wife, who was in court, was “very distressed”.

Ms Denes ordered that as part of his bail conditions, he can live at the family home at Balgowlah Heights, but he must not have access to mobile phones or tablets or attempt to access the internet.

Mr Cui must also not try to contact anyone under 16 years, must report to Manly Police Station three times a week and surrender his passport.

He will be appear at the Sydney Downing Centre court on January 20.