Nicholas Richard Golding who bragged about sex with children given community service

A former Salamanca Market stall worker has been sentenced to 120 hours of community service after bragging about having sex with children on Reddit, despite not having done so.

A Geilston Bay man who bragged about having sex with children to “impress” a stranger on Reddit has been sentenced to 120 hours of community service.

Nicholas Richard Golding fronted the Hobart Magistrates Court on Wednesday when he was sentenced over one count of make/reproduce child exploitation material.

The material in question was the contents of a Skype chat where he wrote about how he had sex with several children, although none of the acts are alleged to have actually taken place.

While corresponding with a man he initially met on Reddit, the former Salamanca Market stall worker claimed he regularly had sex with children aged 10, 11, 11, and 13.

Throughout the course of the Skype correspondence Golding asked the man to send photos from his collection, saying: “I’d love to see some single digit girls.”

Magistrate Jackie Hartnett said Golding went into “disturbing and graphic” detail and was an “enthusiastic participant” in these conversations.

Nicholas Richard Golding. Picture: Facebook

The messages were sent back and forth between August 24 2019 and 27 December 2019 when Golding was 21 years old.

Magistrate Hartnett acknowledged that Golding suffered “sexual confusion” due to trauma he suffered as a child and then as a young teenager.

However, she rejected the submission that Golding engaged in these discussions to “better understand what happened to him”.

She said the contents of this Skype conversation were a serious breach of the law, even if none of the child sex acts actually took place.

“Your online activities, based in fantasy, serve to desensitise and normalise child abuse, and there’s a need to condemn such behaviours,” Magistrate Hartnett said.

“Whilst it was a chat engaged with one online username, because of the very nature of online activities the writer or sender can have no control over where the message goes or the impact it would have on the recipient.”

Golding’s defence counsel Kim Baumeler told the court her client was genuinely remorseful and was proactively engaged with mental health services.

A forensic psychologist’s report said there were “few prospectives” for future sexual offending, provided that Golding is given proper support.

However Magistrate Hartnett said she could not be satisfied that there was no risk, ordering that he be put on a community protection register for 12 months.

Additionally, she issued Golding a two year community corrections order that he carry out 120 hours of community service.

Golding was also fined $1000, ordered to pay court costs of $90, and given a criminal conviction.