Boys, 7, act out sex on girl, 6: risk of mobile porn grows in schools

Disturbing acts of sexualised ­behaviour among young children are becoming more frequent in schools, experts say.

Cyber safety expert Susan McLean. Picture: Toby Zerna

Disturbing acts of sexualised ­behaviour among young children are becoming more frequent in schools as mobile devices result in children being exposed to pornography, educators and cyber safety experts say.

The prevalence of internet-connected mobile devices and the ready accessibility of porn via a simple Google search has led to a rise in child-on-child sexual ­assaults across all education sectors and demographics as children re-enact in playgrounds and classrooms what they see online.

The Weekend Australian can reveal that in one case, the subject of a current investigation, two seven-year-old boys ­allegedly sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl in the playground of a Lutheran school in South Australia after viewing material on a mobile device in a classroom. SA Police were “not in a position to manage or investigate the matter, nor to provide any formal intervention” as those involved were under the age of 10.

“The incident was not reported to police by the school at the time,” an SA Police spokesman said. “While police are now aware of the incident, as those involved are under the age of 10 police are unable to take any action with ­respect to criminal behaviour.”

Cyber-safety expert Susan McLean, who runs workshops for schools across the country, spoke to the alleged victim’s distressed mother at a forum this month.

“This was high-level stuff,” Ms McLean said. “This wasn’t just low-level, and I understand you cannot charge a person under 10 but if you’ve got two seven-year-old boys sexually ­assaulting a six-year-old girl there needs to be an intervention of some description. It was totally swept under the carpet by the school.”

Lutheran Education Australia’s state executive director, John Proeve, confirmed the incident in the middle of last year.

“There were students who had allegedly viewed on an electronic device some material which is understood to be of some explicit sexual nature,” Mr Proeve said.

“The students then moved from a space where they had viewed that to the playground and then what they had viewed brought about actions by the students which obviously had been influenced by what they had seen. We know the behaviour is not consistent with what we would call normal playground behaviour.”

The girl has left the school but the two boys remain.

“The police have now asked some questions and it is an ongoing investigation — we have been following up on the matter,” Mr Proeve said. He said the “the leadership of the school worked with all of the children involved”.

Asked if other parents were immediately notified, Mr Proeve said: “There have been communications in a timely manner … families were informed as appropriate ­according to the guidelines.”

Ms McLean noted another ­“absolutely appalling” case at an SA government primary school where a child was shown “some horrible, horrible content” that another student found by using Google on an unlocked school device. “This child now is needing counselling,” she said.

State Education Minister John Gardner said he had been working to overhaul and strictly enforce cyber-safety policies in all schools.