Daniel Currah groomed two young girls with promises of money and drugs in exchange for sex

A Mildura pervert with an IQ of just 70 attempted to ply two young girls with money and drugs in exchange for sexual favours.

Generic image. Daniel Currah pleaded guilty to several charges of grooming and attempotinig to sexually coerce two teenage girls at the end of 2022

A Mildura pervert with an IQ of just 70 attempted to ply two young girls with money and drugs for sexual favours, a court has heard.

Daniel Currah, 31, pleaded guilty at the County Court to charges including supplying a drug of dependence to a minor and attempted trafficking of a drug of dependence to a minor, using a carriage service to groom a child and using a carriage service procure a child for a sexual act.

The court heard that Currah made a total of 32 phone calls and sent 76 messages to a 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl, respectively, between December 19, 2022, and January 18, 2023. Both were under the care of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH).

Currah sent highly sexualised messages to both victims and sending them pictures of money and cannabis.

On December 21, Currah offered the 14-year-old victim marijuana for sex. He also sent one of his victims a picture of his penis.

In the midst of his offending, Currah was bailed for breaching his sex offender registry conditions he had accrued from a previous case where he had been found guilty of penetrating a child under the age of 16 five times.

When he was arrested for his offending, Currah initially denied knowing the victims, before eventually relenting.

Currah received a total effective sentence of 28 motnhs at the Melbourne County Court

Judge David Sexton pointed out that a sizeable chunk of the offending Currah was being sentenced for was committed while he was on bail, he also spoke to the vulnerability of the victims.

“Clearly, both victims were very young and vulnerable, having been placed under the care of DFFH because of their high-risk vulnerability,” he said.

The court heard of Currah’s long history of drug and alcohol abuse. It also heard of his mental impairment’s, as well as his activity since being in prison.

A psychologist said Currah had a moderate to high risk of recidivism.

Judge Sexton slapped Currah with a total effective sentence of 28 months on all charges.

“In relation to the Commonwealth offences and the total effective sentence of 28 months, I direct you be released after serving 10 months in prison, following which you will be released on a recognisance release order (RRO),” Judge Sexton said.

Once released on the RRO, Currah will be under the supervision of community corrections and sex offender management for two years.

He will also remain on the sex offenders list for the rest of his life.

Currah showed little emotion when his sentence was being read out, but was slightly confused once sentencing was finished.

“Can I ask a question, how long do I actually have in jail,” Currah asked Judge Sexton.

Judge Sexton directed Curran to his lawyer for an explanation.

“I’ll let Mr Thompson tell you that,” the judge replied.