Facebook sex pest jailed for plying teen with drugs, banished from Darwin for two years

A sexual predator who plied a teenager with drugs over Facebook in exchange for sex will be released from jail after 15 months on the condition he not return to Darwin for two years.

The court heard the man contacted the 15-year-old girl via Facebook Messenger and asked her if she knew ‘how to have sex’.

A SEXUAL predator who plied a Palmerston teenager he groomed over Facebook with drugs in exchange for sex will be released from jail after 15 months on the condition he not return to Darwin for two years.

The 45-year-old — who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim — pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to having sex with a child under the age of 16 and supplying her with less than a commercial quantity of cannabis.

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The court heard the man contacted the 15-year-old girl via Facebook Messenger on June 24 last year and asked her how old she was and she replied she was “15 turning 16”.

He then told her he was 29 and offered her cannabis and alcohol in exchange for sex to which she agreed.

The man asked the girl if she knew “how to have sex” before they arranged to meet up at the Gray oval later that evening where he propositioned her and she complied.

As the girl started to walk away, the man gave her the promised cannabis and when she got home she told her mother what had happened.

The girl’s family managed to track the man down to an address in Driver where she identified him and they called the police.

After his arrest the following day, the man told officers he knew the girl was only 15 but “wanted to have sex with her anyway”.

In sentencing the man to three years in jail — to be suspended after 15 months — Justice Judith Kelly said she was prepared to let him out slightly earlier than she otherwise would on the condition he go out bush and not come back for two years.

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Justice Kelly said she accepted that the offending was out of character, the man had no prior convictions for sex offences, he had good prospects for rehabilitation and had expressed genuine remorse.

“Offering cannabis and alcohol to a young girl in exchange for sex is very wrong,” she said.