Jason Scott Hastie pleads guilty to breaching child sex offender obligations

A steel fabricator has been caught with a dating app on his phone he said was used to film himself performing sexual acts online for women.

Jason Scott Hastie leaves Maroochydore Court House. Picture: Patrick Woods.

A steel fabricator and child sex offender has been caught with a phone application which he uses to film himself performing sexual acts for women online.

The surprising admission by Jason Scott Hastie was told in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Monday where the 52-year-old pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching his reporting obligations.

The 52-year-old previously served time behind bars for offences of using the internet to procure a child under 16, grooming a child under 16 and possessing child exploitation material.

His convictions for these offences led to him being placed on the child sex offender registry which required him to abide by certain obligations, regular checks from police partnered with notifying authorities of changes in his life.

Police prosecutor Stephen Potter said officers performed a device inspection on the steel fabricator’s phone at his Dulong home on May 31 where they found the sex application in question.

Jason Scott Hastie leaves Maroochydore Court House. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Sergeant Potter said police found the application “Ditzy Meet” which Hastie said he used to chat and perform sexual acts to adult women by video for sexual gratification.

He told police he “forgot” to notify authorities of the social media application he downloaded and was served a notice to appear for failing to comply with his reporting obligations.

Duty solicitor Michael Robinson emphasised the application was not related to children and was purely “adults only”.

Mr Robinson said it could be inferred police thoroughly checked the device with there being no other concerns.

The court was told the Dulong man, who worked in steel fabrication, had breached his reporting obligations only a year earlier where he was fined $1000.

His solicitor said he only had more than a year left for the obligations to run.

Magistrate Raelene Ellis said there was concern due to the offending involving the internet like his previous crimes and stated those conditions were designed to protect children.

Hastie was jailed for one month, which was suspended immediately for 12 months.

Originally published as Jason Scott Hastie pleads guilty to breaching child sex offender obligations