Shepparton County Court: Waranga Shores’ Nicholas Boers pleads guilty to possessing and distributing child abuse material

A Waranga Shores agriculture worker and father sought and sent child abuse material out of “curiosity” for nearly three years, a court has heard.

Nicholas Cornelius Boers pleaded guilty to distributing and possessing child abuse material in the Shepparton County Court.

A Victorian agriculture worker with children to two different women was part of a vile online network that shared child abuse material, and told fellow pedophiles he had “no limits”.

Nicholas Boers, 40, pleaded guilty to distributing and possessing child abuse material in the Shepparton County Court.

Boers, of Waranga Shore in the state’s north, used encrypted messaging services such as Kik Messenger and Tumblr to publish and distribute the material to other users.

Boers also sent child abuse material via text messages and kept vile images in a mega.nz cloud storage account.

Nicholas Cornelius Boers outside court earlier this year.

Boers also pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis.

Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) police charged Boers on May 5, 2023 after raiding his home.

Prosecutor Brett Stevens said that Boers told police that he “sought the child abuse material out of curiosity” and shared child abuse material involving girls as young as four years old.

A conversation read to the court on a encrypted messaging service revealed that Boers told another user he had “no limits” regarding child abuse material.

Nicholas Boers told a fellow Kik Messenger user he had “no limits” when it came to child abuse material.

Another Kik Messenger conversation saw Boers send 15 URL links to a fellow user which said “young” and “fifteen”.

Other child abuse material distributed by Boers said “mother and son”.

Boers was also apart of a Kik Messenger group called #MegaDropbox, which was a group where child abuse material was shared between users.

The court heard Boers said over a message service that he had sexual intercourse with a girl as young as 14.

Boers also posted a Instagram story showing child abuse material of a 12-year-old daughter and a father.

Boers was supported in court by his mother, wife and ex-partner, and shared children with both.

Boers was supported in the Shepparton County Court by his mother, wife and ex-partner.

Boers’ lawyer Jess Hotchkin said while both parties agreed Boers would have to serve a term of imprisonment, it was “a matter of duration” for the judge in his sentencing.

Ms Hotchkin said a term of imprisonment would “have a significant impact on his life” due to his limited criminal history.

The court heard Boers grew up on a dairy farm and has spent most of his life in agriculture,

and had suffered from mental health issues throughout his life.

Ms Hotchkin said Boers “essentially managed” the stresses in his life by using illicit drugs, with “significant substance abuse” occurring during the time of the offending.

The court heard Boers and his father run an agriculture contracting business, and his imprisonment will cause “hardships” to his family, as they may have to sell off some of the agriculture machinery if Boers is imprisoned.

Boers grew up on a dairy farm and was running an agriculture business with his father. Picture: Zoe Phillips

The court also heard that Boers has been suffering from suicidal thoughts since he was raided by police.

Ms Hotchkin also said that Boers remorse and early plea of guilty should be taken into account in his sentencing, and that he had good prospects of rehabilitation.

Mr Stevens told the court that transmitting and receiving child abuse material was not a victimless crime and that children become a “commodity”.

Mr Stevens agreed with Ms Hotchkin that Boers had shown some remorse since he was charged.

Judge Peter Rozen said “the active role” played by Boers in the conversations was concerning, with Boers often instigating and asking fellow users for links to child abuse material.

Boers will be sentenced on June 19 at 9.30am, with his bail extended until then.