‘A disgusting, filthy monster’: Darwin cricket star pleads guilty to grooming young boys

Snapchat groomer still plans to return to the cricket field after pleading guilty to exploiting young boys.

Aaron Summers has pleaded guilty to multiple child grooming and child pornography offences against young boys.

UPDATE FRIDAY: THE Territory’s peak cricketing body has vowed never to let child groomer and former Hobart Hurricane’s player Aaron Summers return to the sport in the NT.

Aaron Summers, 25, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court this week to multiple child grooming and child pornography offences.

During sentencing submissions, his lawyer, Matt Hubber, told the court Summers planned to return to Perth and play for a local team upon his eventual release from jail.

But in a statement released on Friday, NT Cricket said that would not be happening in the Territory.

“NT Cricket is aware Aaron Summers has pleaded guilty to child grooming offences within the last 24 hours,” the statement reads.

“It was reported in court proceedings that Summers would seek to play cricket at some point in the future if he can.

“The safety of children and young people is an absolute priority for cricket.

“As such, NT Cricket will not permit Summers to re-register as a player or official within the Northern Territory.”

EARLIER: THE mother of a 13-year-old boy groomed by Aaron Summers via Snapchat has labelled the former cricket star “a disgusting, filthy monster” who exploited her son’s love of sport to “trick (him) into thinking you were his friend”.

Summers, 25, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to multiple child grooming and child pornography offences against four young victims after convincing them to send him explicit images of themselves.

But despite his guilty pleas and a likely further stint behind bars to come, the court heard Summers still harboured dreams of one day returning to the sporting field.

In reading from a powerful victim impact statement from the mother of one of the boys, Commonwealth Crown prosecutor Hannah White said the grooming had left the 13-year-old “absolutely distraught”.

Ms White said the woman described the day police told her “a paedophile had infiltrated our home and offended against our beautiful, innocent, 13-year-old son” as the worst day of her life.

Aaron Summers during his time with the Hobart Hurricanes in 2018.

“He sobbed in my arms and begged me not to tell anyone because of the shame and embarrassment he felt as to what Aaron Summers had groomed him into doing,” she said.

“My little boy who still plays with toys and sleeps with his little dog and pretends to believe in the tooth fairy and Santa — he actually thought he had done something wrong.

“You can be sure I told him that Aaron Summers was the monster, a disgusting, filthy monster that had preyed upon him and tapped into his most vulnerable area, his love of sports.”

The woman said Summers had used his high-flying international cricket career to lure her son into talking about sport, before twisting the conversations to satisfy his own “sick” urges.

“(He) thought he had made a genuine friend, someone that he could look up to and be proud to know — this couldn’t have been further from the truth, there is absolutely nothing admirable about Aaron Summers,” she said.

“How clever of you Aaron, you knew that my beautiful, innocent son couldn’t resist talking about (sport) and you used this to break down his barriers and build rapport, but it’s not rapport, it’s blatant grooming by a paedophile and it worked so well.

“You used the most powerful tool you had, your fame and talent and you managed to trick (him) into thinking you were his friend — shame on you, you took the innocence of my son in the most disgusting way.”

Summers’ lawyer, Matt Hubber, said his client’s career that had taken him all over the world, including a stint in playing for the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash league, was now almost certainly at an end.

“He plans to seek employment in Perth and as far as is possible — and to a large degree that is unknown at this point — but play cricket for a local team in Perth if he can,” he said.

“But it is obvious now that his future in professional sport will likely be over as a direct consequence of his offending.”

In adjourning the hearing until December 16, Justice John Burns remanded Summers in custody and ordered a psychiatric report to be prepared for the court.