Darren Byl fronts court over persistently grooming a 13-year-old

A Melbourne grub posing as a teen bought a 13-year-old girl a giant teddy bear on Valentine’s Day and covertly watched her pick it up at suburban park.

Darren Byl sent sexually-explicit messages to a 13-year-old girl using different social media accounts over nearly five years and also stalked her.

A Melbourne child predator bought a 13-year-old girl he had been grooming online a giant teddy bear on Valentine’s Day and watched her collect it at suburban park, a court has heard.

Darren Byl was jailed for three years in the County Court on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to stalking and grooming a person under the age of 16, and will be released on a reconnaissance order after serving 20 months.

Judge Gerard Mullaly said apart from grooming a 13-year-old girl between February 2016 and December 2021, Byl also groomed a teenage girl from Africa over three days in August 2021.

His third victim was an undercover police operative posing as a 15-year-old girl living in Cranbourne who Byl initiated contact with on Snapchat.

Darren Byl stalked a 13-year-old girl over a number of years, including observing her near a park and the school bus.

Judge Mullaly said Byl, 43, initially told his first victim he was 13.

“She unknowingly told you many personal details such as her address, school, the make-up of her family,’’ Judge Mullaly said.

“With these personal details, you were then able to commit stalking, not just online but in the streets and park near where she lived and went to school. It is always concerning that these types of offending moves into real lives and not just online.”

Around Valentine’s Day in 2016, Byl bought her a giant teddy bear and told her to collect it from a nearby park which she did while he observed her.

Byl told her about him observing her at the park, as well as near her school, what she was wearing and that he saw her get off the bus near a primary school.

Judge Mullaly said Byl continued to message and discuss sexual matters with her, including that he wanted to take her virginity and to teach her about oral sex.

He sent her sexualised memes which described sexual activity between girls and daddies.

“You often asked her to see what she was wearing and talked about baby girls being with daddies in sexual circumstances.”

When Byl told her that he was 43-years-old, the girl asked that all communication between them should stop.

But Byl persisted in his conduct which was motivated by perverse sexual gratification by using multiple accounts to keep up his grooming and stalking, Judge Mullaly said.

Her mother became aware of Byl’s conduct in October 2018 and the matter was reported to police.

However, Byl’s grooming and stalking continued in November 2020 after she turned 18.

In her victim impact statement, the first victim said she felt very anxious through her teenage years, including feeling paranoid about being watched in public and being unable to catch public transport for fear of being watched.