Mt Martha grub Robert Littlewood avoids jail for flashing children at Balcombe Estuary Reserve
A paedophile who exposed himself to several traumatised children and tried to lure them away from a Mount Martha park can finally be identified.
South East
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A deviant paedophile who exposed himself to several children at a Mt Martha park has avoided a jail term despite attempting to lure his victims away.
Robert Littlewood, 49, was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday to a 24-month community correction order after pleading guilty to four charges of sexual exposure.
Littlewood, who now lives at Southbank, hunted children at Balcombe Estuary Reserve during school holidays and weekends when the popular park was packed with kids.
He exposed himself to four children while on the park’s boardwalk between September and November 2019.
It can now be revealed Littlewood spoke to his victims and asked at least one child to go for a “walk”.
Littlewood menaced his first victim in September when he approached a young girl, exposed himself and said: “Hi, how are you doing?”.
The frightened child managed to escape and raised the alarm but the Littlewood had left the park.
Littlewood escalated his vile offending on November 3.
The fiend approached two victims, exposed himself and asked the scared children to go with him.
“Would you like to go for a walk with me?” Littlewood asked his victims.
The victims managed to make it back to their family who went looking for Littlewood but the predator could not be found.
In a final brazen assault on November 10, Littlewood exposed himself to another child but she managed to alert her dad who immediately called police.
Investigators swarmed the park and arrested Littlewood who the court heard was not wearing underwear at the time.
Littlewood was hauled in for questioning but denied his offending telling police he was “shocked” at the allegations.
However, after the interview and while being fingerprinted, Littlewood told a sex crimes detective that he had exposed himself to the children.
Littlewood told investigators his reason for exposing himself to the children was “to see what their reaction would be”.
The sex fiend also admitted to police he had “feelings towards children” and “often fantasised about children” but denied “fantasising” would “lead to reality”.
Littlewood admitted on record that he had told a psychologist about his “sexual fantasies about children”.
Magistrate Johanna Metcalfe said it was “evident” Littlewood targeted young children which “aggravates the circumstances of the offending”.
“The children were all frightened and upset,” Magistrate Metcalfe said.
“This kind of offending breaks people trust to go out into public spaces … people should be able to enjoy public spaces and feel safe.”
Magistrate Metcalfe said there was a “clear need for treatment to continue” when sentencing Littlewood with conviction to the community correction order.
Littlewood, who appeared via an internet videolink, was also ordered to undertake rehabilitation and treatment.
