Maurice Van Ryn, Remzi Bektasovski: NSW south coast‘s creepiest offenders exposed | List
From a CEO of a blue chip company to a DJ and a grandfather - these south coast residents have been charged with shocking crimes.
The South Coast News
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The south coast is known for its quiet beaches and friendly smiles, but there is an underbelly of shocking crimes many are unaware of.
From a CEO of a blue chip company to a DJ and a grandfather - these south coast residents have been charged with shocking offences.
Here is a list of some of the south coast’s creepiest offenders.
ROMEN VARGAS
An Illawarra man who downloaded hundreds of thousands of child abuse images and videos from the Dark Web has been jailed for at least 10 years after his wife uncovered his perverted stash.
Romen Vargas faced the NSW District Court from a cell at Parklea prison on Friday, where Judge Andrew Haesler jailed him for 14 years, with a non-parole period of 10 years, after his wife of several years made a horrifying discovery on his computer last year.
While Vargas pleaded guilty to 12 offences related to the possession and transmission of child abuse material
On Friday, the court heard his wife was using his computer last June when she found photos of young girls in his trash folder.
On a USB found at his home, police uncovered a disturbing 170-page “manual” titled how to “How to Practice Child Love”, which described sick acts of child sex abuse, as well as fictional stories about having sex with children.
Police uncovered thousands of depraved images and videos depicting child sexual abuse, which the court heard Vargas used for his own sexual gratification.
With time served, Vargas will be eligible for release to parole in 2030.
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REMZI BEKTASOVSKI
This Illawarra DJ was put behind bars in March over the brutal rape of a teen girl in 2017 after agreeing to help her with an IT issue.
DJ and martial arts instructor Remzi Bektasovski, 22, was jailed for five years and six months over the rape.
Imposing a non-parole period of three years and four months, Judge Haesler said he “appears to have no idea of the damage he caused” the now-young woman and her family.
“She (the victim) made her lack of consent inexplicably clear to him,” Judge Haesler said.
Bektasovski was found guilty of three charges relating to the rape of the teen by a majority jury verdict in January, including sexual assault without consent and assault with act of indecency.
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DAVID FREWIN
A Moruya grandfather will spend at least the next two years behind bars after he was caught in a statewide police sting into online child grooming last year.
David Frewin, 48, pleaded guilty to two counts of using a carriage service to send indecent material to a person aged under 16, using a carriage service to groom someone under 16 for sex, using a carriage service to menace and using a carriage service to procure someone under 16 for sexual activity.
Judge Mark Buscombe told the court Frewin, who has prior convictions for stalking, illicit drugs and firearms offences, used the Facebook accounts “Moruya Mack” and “David Roots” to contact a 13-year-old girl in 2019, offering her illicit drugs for sex.
He told the court the girl was left feeling “disgusted” by Frewin’s contact which included “extremely explicit” and “menacing” content.
The court heard Frewin sent the girl up to 15 messages via Facebook Messenger, asking what she was doing “that night”, before attempting to voice call her 10 times.
Judge Buscombe told the court Frewin told the girl he knew her date of birth, her high school and even the bus she took to get to school.
Her father then contacted police, who created the online identity of a 14-year-old girl before accepting a Facebook request from Frewin, the court heard.
During conversations with the police, Frewin asked to meet the police officer in a hotel room in Parramatta, also offering her ice and ecstasy to “enhance the sexual experience”, the court heard.
He was handed a twoyear non-parole period, meaning he will be paroled on May 19, 2024.
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COLIN FISK
Colin John Fisk is currently serving a lengthy jail sentence for child sex offences, which took place on the NSW south coast between December 2016 and March 2017.
He had previously spent 12 years in jail for other child sex offences.
Court documents reveal Fisk, acting in breach of his of his reporting obligations, had befriended multiple 14- and 15-year-old children during the school holidays of December 2016 around the south coast area.
He would offer them cannabis, cigarettes and alcohol and, on some occasions, take them back to his property to smoke or drink.
On other occasions, he would give them lifts to friends’ houses or meet them around the region.
One underage person interviewed as part of police investigations said Fisk seemed to “pop up everywhere” and asked a lot about his teenage friends.
On one occasion, Fisk asked the child whether he had pubic hair yet while they sat in his car.
He described himself as “a homosexual hebephile bordering on pederism at the lower range,” during the Wood Royal Commission in 1996, which was investigating corruption in the NSW Police Force.
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REINHARD ‘FRITZ’ DRENKHAHN
He was a prominent member of the Eden community for decades, helping build the tourism industry of the small town, but nobody knew the hideous secrets he was keeping.
When former president of lobby group Port of Eden Marina, and well-known south coast fisherman, Reinhard ‘Fritz’ Drenkhahn, 69, was jailed last year for four years for sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys between 2000 and 2003, it sent shockwaves through the community.
One of his victims, now an adult, told the court in a victim impact statement he met Drenkhahn at the age of 10 and the pair would go fishing together.
Drenkhahn was found guilty of molesting one of the boys at a south coast rental home, and assaulting the other boy, who he tried to wrestle while naked, during a trip to Wagga Wagga.
While he had maintained his innocence, Drenkhahn was found guilty on three charges of aggravated indecent assault of a person under the age of 16, one charge of sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 16, and for possessing an unregistered rifle.
He will be paroled in December this year.
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MAURICE VAN RYN
When well-known south coast businessman Maurice Van Ryn was arrested in 2014 it sent shockwaves through the south coast community.
The former executive of blue chip dairy processor Bega Cheese is currently behind bars after being sentenced in 2016 to 18 years in prison for sexually abusing 10 boys and girls between the ages of eight and 15 on the south coast of NSW between 2003 and 2014.
The court heard Van Ryn used “computer games and alcohol” to gain access to his victims, and had sexual intercourse with one boy in his motel room after taking him to Canberra to watch a game of rugby in the company’s Bruce Stadium corporate box.
During his trial, Van Ryn admitted to having sexual thoughts about children every day throughout his adult life.
He told the court he had struggled since his teenage years with his “urge to touch” children.
He will be paroled in 2029.
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DAMON YOUNG
A former Merimbula McDonald’s manager, who is now a hospital volunteer, was found guilty of groping a teenage boy’s genitalia in a carpark last year.
Damon Young, 19, of Bega, was found guilty in Bega Local Court of two counts of sexually touching the boy in a car outside the restaurant in January, leaving his victim in tears.
Young, who is now working in IT and volunteering at the South East Regional Hospital, had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which included forcibly squeezing the boy’s genitalia and repeatedly slapping his buttocks.
Magistrate Dick told the court the victim had told police he could not move or speak after the assaults, and that he had “no hesitation” in believing the evidence provided by the victim and an eyewitness.
The court heard Young stroked the boy’s hair for a number of minutes before the assaults, and smiled as he left the vehicle to return to work.
Magistrate Doug Dick sentenced Young to a three-year community corrections order and fined him $5000.
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BENJAMIN DAVID PAUL HAY
An aspiring actor and model charged with possessing thousands of child abuse images has been ordered to deal with his addiction to pornography.
Benjamin David Paul Hay, a 38-year-old Bega disability pensioner, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of producing child abuse material and seven counts of possessing child abuse material.
Bega Local Court Magistrate Doug Dick sentenced Hay to a three-year community corrections order on December 15, with strict conditions including not accessing the internet to search for any form of pornography, and actively engaging in counselling for his addiction to pornography.
Court documents reveal a forensic examination of a sample of Hay’s electronic devices seized by police found thousands of child abuse images and videos, with the content of one hard drive described by investigators as being of an “extremely egregious nature”.
One hard drive contained 138,626 images and almost 6000 videos, with investigators saying the “majority” depicted child abuse material.
Magistrate Dick ordered Hay to undergo three years of supervision by the Nowra Community Corrections District Office, and undertake psychological counselling and a psychiatric review.
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