Michael Slegers: Glenmore Park paedophile jailed for grooming
A western Sydney paedophile who had sexual video calls with two 10-year-old boys because he was “lonely” has defended his actions by claiming one of the boys had an interest in men. Bizarrely his defence claimed that it was the 59-year-old who had been groomed by police.
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A loner paedophile who used gaming sites and social media to befriend young boys before having sexually explicit video chats with them has been jailed for up to three years.
Glenmore Park man Michael Slegers, 59, was sentenced to a minimum of two years in jail in Penrith District Court last week after pleading guilty to two counts of using a carriage service to groom a child under 16 for sex and one count of common assault.
Police began investigating Slegers in October 2018 after receiving a complaint from a 13-year-old boy who claimed to have been assaulted by Slegers during a visit to his western Sydney home.
The boy would visit his house with his young brother after school. The seemingly innocent neighbourhood friendship broke down when the boy allegedly found a handwritten note from Slegers professing his love for the boy.
Things escalated when Slegers tried to hug and kiss the boy, despite being pushed away.
A subsequent police search of Slegers’s home the following month uncovered more sinister findings on his iPad and mobile phones, which linked him to a young boy in Victoria.
Police say Slegers had struck up a relationship with the 10-year-old boy via online games, such as Fortnite and social media sites.
Slegers admitted to masturbating in front of the boy via a Skype video call “at least once” before getting the boy to take off his clothes and exchange explicit photos.
Slegers defended his behaviour, claiming the boy had an interest in men.
Police documents showed that Slegers had sent the boy a drone as a Christmas gift and had plans to meet the boy in person “later in life” when he was 16 or 18, but blocked the boy over fears his father would find out.
When asked about his sexual interest in children, Slegers told police: “I’m going to stop that. It’s not going to happen anymore”.
He also told police he had few friends and depended on the internet for most of his socialisation.
In December 2018, police assumed the identity of a 10-year-old boy and started talking to Slegers online.
Over the next month, undercover police had a series of chats and video calls, with Slegers exposing his genitalia and masturbating while encouraging the fictional boy to do the same.
Slegers also asked the boy to send him naked photos and asked him if he wanted to talk about “boys’ stuff” or “do something naughty”.
Police swooped on Slegers on January 17 last year and charged him with the three offences.
Slegers denied being sexually aroused talking to the fictional 10-year-old boy, instead telling police he just wanted a friendship because he “had nobody”.
At a sentencing hearing last week, the court heard Slegers had been diagnosed with pedophilic disorder and had a history of social isolation and no intimate relationships, which had contributed to his sexual grooming of children.
The defence argued Slegers had been “groomed by police”, who had created the fictional boy to “encourage further offending”.
However, the Crown prosecutor said Slegers had a “sustained pattern of sexual interest in children” with no insight into his behaviour.
Judge Sharon Harris sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment, with two years’ non parole. He will be eligible for parole in January next year.