‘I’m sorry it’s taken so long’: Carly Ryan’s mum on new social media ban
Carly Ryan became the first Australian girl to be murdered by an online predator. Her mum wishes the social media ban had been around for her daughter.
It’s been 18 years since Carly Ryan was brutally murdered by a 50-year-old pedophile she met on social media.
In a crime that sent shockwaves across the country, the 15-year-old’s body was found on a deserted beach in the South Australian holiday town of Port Elliot in the early hours of February 20, 2007.
The “compassionate and loving” teen had become Australia’s first victim of an online predator. She met her murderer on MySpace, a precursor to Facebook, where Garry Francis Newman spent 18 months pretending to be a 20-year-old love interest before luring her to the seaside town, 75 km from her Adelaide Hills home.
Today, Carly’s mum, Sonya Ryan, backs the federal government’s social media ban for children aged under 16, which comes into force today – and wishes it had existed back in 2007.
“I do think that it may have been different for myself and particularly Carly because the reality is she wouldn’t have been able to be on those services and then she wouldn’t have been exposed to Garry Newman and his 200 fake profiles,” she says of the new law, which was prompted by News Corp’s Let Them Be Kids campaign.
“For me, it’s very frustrating that it’s taken so long because we have lost so many children. Carly was the first girl murdered by an online predator in Australia and we’ve lost so many through online harms, whether children have taken their own lives, whether they’ve been targeted by online predatory groups, scammers, there’s so many different harms children are having to face these days.
“I’m sorry it’s taken so long but … I’m absolutely grateful that Australia has come a long way and is really leading the way in a lot of aspects. We are finally doing what should have been done when Carly was murdered.”
Carly was just 14 when a friend signed her up to MySpace, which connected people and let them share content.
Ms Ryan says back then, she had no concerns about her daughter being on the pioneering social media platform.
“All her friends were on it and when I looked at her profile, it was very artful and pretty,” she says.
“You must remember there was absolutely no awareness of online crimes (back then). There was zero education, we were all very naive.”
On MySpace, Carly met and fell in love with “Brandon”, who she and her mum believed was a music-loving young boy.
“We could never have imagined it was a 50-year-old man operating a fake profile,” says Ms Ryan.
“It’s just something that even now I still can’t believe happened to her, it’s just absolutely horrific.”
On February 19, 2007, Carly left home to go to a friend’s place for a sleepover. Instead, she was lured to the picturesque Horseshoe Bay, thinking she was meeting her online love.
Brandon’s sinister alter ego, Newman, was waiting there for her.
He attacked the teenager, suffocating her with beach sand and leaving her body in shallow water.
Newman was arrested and eventually convicted of Carly’s murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 29 years.
In the shocking days that followed Carly’s death, a crushed and broken Ms Ryan thought her life was also over. But a powerful moment of connection with her daughter dramatically changed her path.
“I remember laying in bed and I was in such shock, my body wasn’t operating properly, I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t, time kind of stopped and there was so much happening around me with the investigation,” she says.
“I’m identifying her body and my whole system went into utter trauma. I remember laying in bed and I opened my eyes and I saw her face as clear as day and she said ‘mumma, fight, you’ve got a job to do and it’s more than important than you think’, it was as clear as day.”
From there, Ms Ryan dedicated herself to honouring Carly’s memory by helping to protect young people online.
Four years after losing her daughter, she started the online safety charity the Carly Ryan Foundation. Another six years later, the federal government introduced Carly’s Law, which makes it a crime for adults to lie about their age online to groom children.
Now, nearly two decades after Carly’s death, the federal government’s social media ban is finally coming into effect.
“It gives our kids the opportunity to pause and to learn everything they need to be safe online,” she says.
“To build that resilience, critical thinking skills, emotional intelligence. So when they’re 16 and they’re ready to get online, they’re prepared. It gives parents the opportunity to teach their kids and have time.
“It’s going to save lives.”
*The Carly Ryan Foundation has created a social media transition guide for families and young people to adapt to the new social media ban. Download the guide at carlyryanfoundation.com
More Coverage
Originally published as ‘I’m sorry it’s taken so long’: Carly Ryan’s mum on new social media ban
