Whitsunday man pleads not guilty to sending sexual messages to 15yo girl

A jury has taken more than seven hours to give a split verdict in the case against a man accused of intentionally sending explicit videos to a 15-year-old girl.

A Whitsunday man has pleaded not guilty to intentionally sending explicit messages to a 15-year-old child, claim they had been meant for her mother.

A Mackay jury has taken more than seven hours to return split verdicts in the case against a man accused of intentionally sending explicit texts and videos to 15-year-old girl.

The Whitsunday man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty to three charges - one count of using electronic communication to procure a child under 16 to engage in a sexual act and two counts of exposing the child to an indecent act by him.

It was alleged the offending occurred via Facebook messenger in the later half of 2023 at Proserpine.

Mackay District Court heard the messages included “hey girl”, “what you doing can I lick your p--sy”, “you wanna f--k”, as well as two videos – a 30 second video of him touching his penis and pointing at it and a one minute and nine second video of him laying on a bed touching his penis.

It was accepted the man sent the messages from his account to the account in question, but he claimed he thought he had been messaging the child’s mother.

The jury began deliberating just before 1pm on Wednesday and continued from 8.35am Thursday.

After several notes to Judge Michael Burnett including one that asking if “beyond reasonable doubt” meant they have to 100 per cent, the jury returned split verdicts about 1.18pm.

They six-men and six-women acquitted the man of using electronic communication to procure a child under 16 to engage in a sexual act, but found him guilty of two counts of indecent treatment of a child.

He will be sentenced later today.

A Whitsunday man has pleaded not guilty to intentionally sending explicit messages to a 15-year-old child, claim they had been meant for her mother.

‘Hey girl’: Man’s lawyer says sex videos to 15yo meant for mum

A lawyer for a Whitsunday man accused of sending explicit messages and videos to a 15-year-old girl has argued two witnesses, including the alleged victim child, have “told lies” to get his client convicted.

Barrister Scott McLennan further said it was open to find the teen and her mother “deliberately deleted important evidence”.

The man has pleaded not guilty to charges of using electronic communication to procure a child under 16 to engage in a sexual act and exposing the child to an indecent act by him in the later half of 2023 at Proserpine.

It is alleged he sent a number of sexualised messages and two explicit videos to a Facebook account, knowing it belonged to a 15 year old. He has claimed be believed he was texting with the child’s mother.

In his closing argument to the six-man, six-woman jury Mr McLennan said the Facebook profile the messages had been sent to had been deleted before police could properly look at it.

He told the court the Facebook account had not been deleted when police turned up unannounced and recorded the messages before returning the phone to the mother and telling her “you’re going to need to drop that phone into the police station at some point”.

Mr McLennan has suggested after that “they’ve deleted the Facebook profile … with all the messages”.

“They’ve both denied deleting the profile when there’s no question that it was deleted,” he said, adding it was “perfectly legitimate … to conclude that either the police haven’t investigated this matter properly or witnesses have deliberately deleted important evidence”.

The court heard also heard it was the mother’s email address, mobile phone number and date of birth linked to the account in question.

Mr McLennan told the jury two of the witnesses, including the child, had convinced themselves the child was the intended recipient of the messages “and they’ve decided that they would tell some lies to try and get my client convicted”.

Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard told the jury the crown case “is really quite a simple one” – that the man intentionally sent the messages and videos to the 15 year old and said there were circumstantial factors that would help reach that conclusion.

These include that the child gave evidence she had met the man before, that he knew her age, had seen her Facebook profile and had “known that family for years”.

The court heard the child had multiple Facebook accounts because she could break her phone and have to establish a new account having lost access to the previous one, which Ms Sheppard said the child openly told police.

Ms Sheppard also referred to the language used in the messages including “hey girl”, describing it as childish.

The jury begun deliberations on Wednesday afternoon.

DAY 1

A Whitsunday man accused of trying to corrupt an underage teen has denied claims he intentionally sent her explicit requests and videos, claiming he thought he had been messaging her mother.

He has pleaded not guilty to using electronic communication to procure a child under 16 to engage in a sexual act and two counts of exposing the child to an indecent act by him in the later half of 2023.

The messages in question were sent over Facebook and there was no debate the man authored them and appeared in the videos – the crux of the case was whether or not he intentionally sent them to the 15-year-old girl.

“This trial is about the dangers of the internet, more particularly what a child can be exposed to by an adult who intends them harm,” Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard told the six-man, six-woman jury empanelled on Monday.

Mackay District Court heard the messages included “hey girl”, “what you doing can I lick your p--sy”, “you wanna f--k”, as well as two videos – a 30 second video of him touching his penis and pointing at it and a one minute and nine second video of him laying on a bed touching his penis.

Ms Sheppard said the issue was “whether or not (he) sent those messages … to the Facebook account of (the girl) … knowing she was a child”.

The court heard it was alleged the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, knew the child – they lived in Proserpine and their respective families were friends.

The court also heard the child had multiple Facebook accounts which she accessed from her own phone and from her mother’s mobile phone which was how the alleged offending came to light.

Ms Sheppard told the jury a lot of the trial would focus on Facebook evidence but the case was really straight forward – the man sent the messages and videos to a 15 year old, knowing it was the account of a 15 year old.

Defence barrister Scott McLennan in a short opening told the jury there was no dispute his client sent the sexual messages to that Facebook account.

“What the defence says in this case is that the intended recipient of those messages wasn’t (the child),” Mr McLennan said, adding when his client was confronted over sending the messages he said he was messaging the child’s mother.

“I’d ask you pay careful attention to a significant body of evidence which shows that this Facebook account was in fact (of) the mother, not her daughter.”

The trial under Judge Michael Burnett continues on Tuesday.

Originally published as Whitsunday man pleads not guilty to sending sexual messages to 15yo girl