Avondale Heights’ Colin Roche sentenced for distributing child abuse material at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court
A vile amateur boxer blackmailed a little boy into sending him explicit photos and asked grown men online if he could have sex with them and their daughters.
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A vile site manager and amateur boxer — who blackmailed a little a boy into sending him explicit photos online — asked men if they would have sex with him and their daughters.
Colin Roche was sentenced at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court after being found guilty of 18 offences, including distributing child abuse material and using carriage service to transmit indecent material to a person under 16 years of age.
In 2021, an American organisation that worked to save children from sexual exploitation online informed the Australian Federal Police and, subsequently, Victoria Police about Roche, who sent indecent messages and photos to seven children he believed were between the ages of 11 and 15.
A search warrant was conducted at Roche’s Avondale Heights home where police seized three mobile phones, a tablet computer and three laptops.
Police found disturbing images, some animated, on Roche’s phone that depicted sexual activity between adults and children.
There were also messages found where Roche “threatened” and “coerced” a 13-year-old boy into sending him explicit photos which Roche then used to blackmail him into sending more images, the court heard.
Other messages on his phone contained written child abuse material he sent to a little girl in which he called her a “slut and whore”.
Police also found messages that contained images of Roche’s genitalia which he sent to children and messages where he described sexual activity to kids.
The 48-year-old also told another child that a nine-year-old girl “came onto him”.
The vile grub — who has a seven-year-old son — also asked a 41-year-old if he had engaged in sexual activity with his nine-year-old daughter and asked another man if he wanted to have sex with his daughter and him.
The court heard Roche’s offending went on for weeks and was for his “own gratification” with no thought given to the children.
Roche also refused to give police his passcode to his phones, further delaying the investigation.
Magistrate Julie Grainger said Roche’s moral culpability for the offending was high because he knew his conduct was illegal.
“They were children, and you knew they were children. You knew some of them were as young as 11. You (continued) because of your sexual attraction to children. You blackmailed a little boy,” she said.
Ms Grainger said Roche actively participated in the market for child abuse material online and exploited children online for sexual gratification but there was no evidence he profited from it.
The prosecution told the court Roche’s sentence warranted imprisonment “for the exploitation of children online” and the “protection of the community”.
But Roche’s lawyer said the delay in finalising and investigating the matter warranted a good behaviour bond instead of imprisonment as Roche had not committed further offences, asking to spare him jail time.
The court heard Roche lived with his mother, did a carpentry apprenticeship after leaving school in Year 10, and worked as a site manager for builders in Melbourne after completing a diploma certificate in building construction from RMIT University.
The court also heard the 48-year-old — who is a former amateur boxer and lives with his mother — was diagnosed with pedophilic disorder.
Ms Grainger read a psychological report that said Roche had a “deviant” sexual attraction towards kids and an “entitled attitude towards sex” and cared only about his own gratification.
In sentencing Roche to 728 days imprisonment, Ms Grainger said jail was appropriate for the seriousness of sexual exploitation of children online, adding Roche had sought no specialist treatment for his pedophilia or shown remorse.
Minutes after the sentencing, Roche’s lawyer successfully applied for bail to appeal his sentence.
Roche — who has been put on the registered sex offenders list for life — will appear for a direction hearing at a later date this year for an appeal.
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