Robert James Pearce jailed after ‘prolific’ attempts to meet teen girl for sex while high on meth

A man who rocked up to a train station to have sex with a 14-year-old girl immediately messaged her that “I don’t trust this” when he arrived.

A District Court judge has dismissed claims a “flat-out” meth user was acting “out of character” when he tried to meet up with a 14-year-old girl for sex.

Robert James Pearce, 40, fronted court on Friday for sentencing after telling an undercover police officer – who he thought was a teenage girl – he wanted her as his “future wife”.

Judge Heath Barklay said Pearce, of Christie Downs, began messaging the fictitious girl on Facebook Messenger in April last year and “prolifically” attempted to procure her for sex over a six-week period.

Pearce was arrested at the Christies Beach train station last year. Picture: Facebook

“You dared her to send you photos and asked her to ‘send me a sexy pic’,” Judge Barklay said. “You persisted with this request and asked her to send you a picture of her in lingerie.

“When she told you that she had never engaged in sexual activity before, you assured her that you would help.

“Prior to your incarceration, you were homeless and would take increasing amounts of methamphetamine to remain awake as you did not feel safe living on the streets.

“You say you were using methamphetamine flat-out. You believed the methamphetamine cause you to act out of character, and that if you were in your right mind, you would never have behaved in such a way towards a minor.

“The more reasonable explanation for your offending, although you could not bring yourself to admit it, is that you have a sexual interest in teenage girls.”

Pearce was arrested in May, 2024, when detectives from the Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team attended the Christies Beach train station where he had organised to meet the fictitious girl for sex

He was sentenced on Friday … Picture: Facebook

… And will serve the next two years in prison. Picture: Facebook

Judge Barklay said Pearce had sent messages to the undercover cop in the minutes leading up to his arrest saying: “this smells fishy” and “I don’t trust this, there’s cops everywhere”.

“You were immediately suspicious, believing it was police, as you did not think a 14-year-old would be interested in communicating with you considering you were ‘a jailhead with face tattoos’,” Judge Barklay said on Friday.

A court previously heard he tried to snap his phone in half when he was pounced upon by police.

Prosecutors previously alleged that, over a period of time, Pearce sent “numerous pictures of his crotch” and “asked for her to send him ‘sexy pics’”.

On Friday, Judge Barklay sentenced Pearce, who he noted had a long criminal history, to two years and six months.

He issued a non-parole period of two years and four days, and backdated the sentence to June 19, 2024.

Originally published as Robert James Pearce jailed after ‘prolific’ attempts to meet teen girl for sex while high on meth