Swan Hill grub Aaron Bradley posed as a 10-year-old boy on Snapchat to groom a young girl

A depraved Swan Hill man posed as a 10-year-old boy on Snapchat to bombard a young girl with filthy messages in a disgusting grooming campaign.

Aaron Bradley posed as a 10-year-old boy on Snapchat to procure and send sexually charged material to a girl of the same age. Picture: Facebook

A registered sex offender from Swan Hill groomed a 10-year-old girl for “sexually charged material” by posing as a 10-year-old boy on Snapchat, a court has heard.

Aaron Bradley, 33, fronted the County Court sitting in Mildura where he pleaded guilty to charges including using a carriage service to groom a person under 16 years of age to engage in sexual activity, using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material and failing to comply with his reporting obligations.

Bradley, who worked at the Swan Hill Bowls Club, sent multiple sexually charged texts, images and videos to his 10-year-old victim over a seven day period, the court heard.

Posing as a 10-year-old boy initially, Bradley repeatedly called the victim and told the 10-year-old girl’s friend in a group chat, “I just want her [the victim] to be my girlfriend.”

On another occasion when the victim sent Bradley a picture where she was wearing her school uniform, Bradley replied, “Thanks babe, your (sic) hot xx.”

The court heard Bradley sent sexually explicit videos and images to the 10-year-old girl in order to make her jealous. Picture: Facebook

The court heard when Bradley didn’t get his way, he would send explicit images of other women to the victim, telling her they were also his girlfriends.

The victim told officers Bradley sent her an explicit video and said, “This girl’s better. She sent a video of her touching herself.”

The court heard the victim’s mother raised the alarm to police after she discovered the messages.

A police search of Bradley’s house he shared with his father uncovered a black mobile phone with an active Snapchat account and more than 40 messages sent in the previous 24 hours.

A partial victim impact statement, written by the victim’s mother, was read out during the plea hearing, detailing the way Bradley’s offending had impacted the young girl.

“(She) will probably never be the same child again,” the victim impact statement read.

Bradley, who had been convicted of similar offending in 2013, entered an early guilty plea and had served 413 days pre-sentence detention.

Bradley told a doctor who was assessing him after he had been arrested, “when I am drunk, I do dumb shit.”

His lawyer Danielle Lamovie said her client was not a lost cause and that Bradley’s alcoholism was a factor in his offending and he was now a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The court heard Bradley told a doctor who was assessing him, “When I am drunk, I do dumb shit.”

Prosecutor Elle Addams called Bradley’s emotional manipulation of the victim “cunning.”

Ms Addams also questioned whether his remorse was genuine and pointed out his “previous offending had not deterred him from engaging in this offending.”

Ms Lamovie said her client’s offending fell in the medium to moderate range because it wasn’t protracted, adding reports showed her client was at risk of institutionalisation.

Bradley used the popular mobile phone application Snapchat to pose as a 10-year-old boy and groom a 10-year-old girl. Picture: Generic

“The offending wasn’t protracted because the victim’s mother found out,” Judge John Kelly said.

“The real gravity of the offending is he knows she is 10, and he is sending her sexually charged material,” Judge Kelly said.

Bradley will be sentenced on August 21 at the County Court sitting in Mildura.