Grub Melbourne Ekman boss David Bodin avoids jail for procuring child for sexual act

The former Australian boss of a multinational paper giant planned a sordid sex meet with a 14-year-old girl while on a business trip.

A grubby businessman who groomed a child for sex by offering to delay a business trip to Sydney to coincide with school holidays has avoided a jail term.

David Bodin, 66, was sentenced in the County Court on Monday to a three-year suspended jail term after pleading guilty to using a service to procure a child under 16 for a sexual act.

Bodin targeted his intended victim via Skype and Chat Avenue between October 28 and November 28, 2019.

The fiend messaged his target, an undercover cop posing as a 14-year-old girl, not long after she logged onto Chat Avenue.

Bodin told his target he was 64 and asked if she “didn’t mind the age difference”, the court was told.

He then asked if she had met anyone physically from the chat room and if she was a “still a virgin”.

Bodin then hit his target with vile sexualised messages including if she had ever kissed a boy or had her “breasts stroked”.

Bodin then sent an image of his penis.

Bodin asked the target if she was alone in her room and if their conversation “aroused” her.

The pair switched to Skype where Bodin’s profile read: “Melbourne guy whos pretty happy. Like chatting to teens, not sure why … just feel younger”.

Bodin, who uploaded another image of his penis, attempted to have his target perform lewd acts while on Skype.

In a later Skype chat, Bodin attempted to arrange a meeting with the girl while he would be in Sydney for a business trip.

The undercover cop asked Bodin what they would do if they met up.

“Well that depends,” Bodin said.

“Maybe just chat and a milkshake … depending on what you wanted to explore … did you want to experience anything sexual … maybe do things you hadn’t done before,” Bodin said.

He later requested a photo of his target in a bikini after telling her she had “lovely eyes”.

Bodin asked his target if she had Skype on her phone but the undercover cop said no because she “didn’t want to get in trouble with her mum”.

“Well we’d better not meet then … cos she would be seriously angry more with me,” Bodin replied.

In a later conversation, Bodin asked his target if she “mucked around with boys”, requested a “topless” selfie and quizzed the girl on what her dress and bra size was.

Bodin then sent the target a link to website which instructs how to masturbate, the court was told.

Bodin later repeated his request to meet in person claiming he would be in Sydney on December 11.

He asked what time she finished school, telling his target he would have a car so he could “meet her anywhere”.

Bodin also offered to delay his trip a week to coincide with school holidays, the court heard.

The grub suggested they could go back to his hotel, swim and “engage in sexual activity”.

Bodin said he would buy his target a new bikini when they met pointing out people in the store would think he was “granddad”.

Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team investigators arrested Bodin, at his home then took him to Mornington Peninsula police station in July last year.

The court heard Bodin dropped out of dentistry at Melbourne University before later completing a bachelor economics.

Bodin rose through the ranks of the Australian paper industry and managed the Australian operations for multinational Ekman Group while he offended.

Some of the offending occurred while Bodin was in Glen Waverley where Ekman’s Melbourne headquarters is based.

Bodin, a father who still lives with his wife, resigned from Ekman in April this year, the court was told.

Judge Gabrielle Cannon warned Bodin if he committed any crime he would be sent to jail for his offending.

Bodin was made a registered sex offender for eight years.

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