Ex-Intercontinental Hayman Island Resort boat skipper Luke Edward Reynolds offered a PlayStation for sex with child

A former boat skipper at a luxury resort in the Whitsundays has been jailed for offering a Brisbane child a PlayStation in exchange for sex.

Luke Edward Reynolds outside the Supreme Court in Brisbane where he is facing charges of multiple child sex offences. Picture: Tertius Pickard

An ex-boat skipper at one of Australia’s most luxurious resorts who offered a child a PlayStation in exchange for sex has been jailed over the “predatory, calculated and protracted” conduct.

Former Intercontinental Hayman Island Resort boat skipper Luke Edward Reynolds, 29, pleaded guilty on Friday to two counts of using an electronic communication to procure a child under 16, four counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 and one count of possessing child exploitation material.

Reynolds began communicating with the 13-year-old child in an online chat room then on Snapchat, engaging in sexualised conversation and sending nudes in April last year, Brisbane’s District Court heard.

Reynolds offered a PlayStation in return for sex.

He organised to meet the child for sex in Cannon Hill where he drove from the Gold Coast with a bag that had been photographed containing condoms and lubrication.

However, the teenager declined to participate and rode off.

Undeterred Reynolds continued messaging the child but by this stage police had taken over the phone after being contacted by the youth’s parents

He again organised to meet up in Cannon Hill with what he thought was the child, who he believed looked even younger than 13, and was pounced on by police at the location, the court heard.

“The persistence in the face of the resistance is a significantly aggravating feature of this case,” Crown prosecutor Isabelle MacNicol said.

“The offending is properly characterised as persistent, predatory and premeditated.

“It involved calculated steps, beginning with the online communication and progressing to a deliberate physical meeting of the child.”

Luke Reynolds outside the Supreme Court in Brisbane. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Barrister Patrick Wilson said his client was remorseful and had good prospects of rehabilitation

His early pleas of guilty meant the case proceeded without delay, Mr Wilson said.

“He was working as a ferry driver … he was driven out of that industry by virtue of the publicity associated with his arrest and he was unemployed for a significant period of time,” he said

The court heard Reynolds was a loner with limited interpersonal and intimate relationships who had been assessed as having a mixed personality disorder.

A psychologist opined that Reynolds did not exhibit pedophilia but instead the offending stemmed from his avoidant personality disorder, the court heard.

Judge Brad Farr said Reynolds’ lack of prior relevant criminal history was not unusual in these types of cases.

“This type of behaviour, of course, is abhorrent to right minded members of society,” he said.

“It was protracted, even after the child exhibited at the very least concern about following through with that which had been discussed, and perhaps even fear, you persisted to try and encourage him to do so.

“You placed your own sexual gratification in the forefront with little if any thought to the potential harm to the complainant.”

Reynolds was sentenced to two years’ prison, to be suspended after six months, and two years’ probation.

Originally published as Ex-Intercontinental Hayman Island Resort boat skipper Luke Edward Reynolds offered a PlayStation for sex with child