Launceston sex offender bragged to undercover cop about abuse and plans to ‘knock out’ niece

A man faces prison time after bragging to an undercover police officer about sexually abusing his young niece and saying he was ‘trying to learn how to safely knock her out’.

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PRISON is on the cards for an Invermay man who bragged to an undercover Queensland police officer about sexually assaulting his niece and his plans to “safely knock her out” so he could abuse her.

The 37-year-old will be sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one count of possessing child exploitation material in the Supreme Court in Launceston on Tuesday.

The court heard he was a close friend of his young victim’s parents, was trusted to care for the girl and was considered her uncle.

The offender cannot be named for legal reasons and to protect the victim.

The two assaults occurred in 2018 while the girl was staying at the man’s home alone with him.

Launceston Supreme Court.

The court heard the victim woke during the first assault.

Prosecutor Luke Brett said the offender discussed his “niece” and interest in “kiddie porn” with an undercover police officer in an online chat room in August 2018.

In the chat, the man told the officer: “I’ll work on getting some pics of my niece”, “I’ll take some pics when she’s asleep” and “One thing I’ve been trying to learn is how to safely knock her out”.

The defendant said he wanted to be able to “do whatever I want” to her, the court heard.

The Queensland Police Service identified the man and notified Tasmania Police.

Officers searched his home and seized his laptop, a hard drive and two phones.

On them were almost 2000 images and videos containing child exploitation and bestiality material across five categories.

The mother of the girl provided a victim impact statement and asked that it be read in court.

In it she said her daughter “still asks if it was her fault” and the hardest part for her was that she thought of the man as her uncle.

The statement said it had been an emotional and upsetting time for the girl who has lost interest in things and now sees a counsellor.

Mr Brett said the comments the man made online signified that he did not immediately feel guilt or remorse and that the abuse “probably would have continued” without police intervention.

Defense lawyer Fran McCracken said the man’s conversations with the undercover officer were not completely truthful and he was “trying to induce the other party to share images with him”.

However, she could not say that he would not have continued the offending if it were not for police intervention.

“He understands it is all his own doing,” she said.

“He has been very clear about his shame and remorse. He knows what the sentence is going to be.”

The offender was taken into custody to be sentenced on Friday.