Northgate sexual abuser also found with hundreds of child exploitation images sent to jail

A man who sexually abused a 12-year-old boy in the Northgate toilets, before he was found with hundreds of child exploitation images, has been sent to jail.

A MOONAH man who sexually abused a 12-year-old boy in the Northgate shopping centre toilets has been jailed.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Tasmania heard Damien Robert Kozakiewicz, 32, started communicating with the boy on Snapchat in 2021.

The boy told Kozakiewicz he was 14, with the messages “friendly and flirty in nature”.

Crown prosecutor Lisa Pennington told the court the pair arranged to meet at the Glenorchy Central shopping centre, but “found it too crowded”, walking over to Northgate.

The sexual contact occurred inside the unisex toilet, with the pair leaving separately.

The boy disclosed what happened to police in July last year.

Tasmania Police obtained CCTV footage from Northgate, posting an image on its Facebook page, with Kozakiewicz subsequently handing himself in to the Glenorchy Police Station.

Northgate Shopping Centre, Glenorchy

The court heard he told police there was “nothing forceful about what occurred”, but that the boy blocked him on Snapchat afterwards and “appeared to get spooked”.

He said the boy seemed happy after the incident.

However, he said it “it was attraction that led him to override the knowledge that it was illegal” and agreed the boy “was quite small and appeared to be quite young” and that he “didn’t appear to be adolescent”.

Police searched his home, finding a number of devices containing 344 images and 178 videos of child exploitation material.

The court heard the material mainly featured male pubescent and pre-pubescent children.

Kozakiewicz’s lawyer said the former Hydro employee “did not engage in any act the complainant did not consent to”, but agreed he had “committed what can only be described as the grossly indecent act upon a young person”.

Kozakiewicz pleaded guilty to the penetrative sexual abuse of a child or young person, and possession of child exploitation material.

In sentencing, Justice Stephen Estcourt noted he made “full and frank admissions” but condemned the behaviour as “a serious case of predation by the defendant upon a child”.

He jailed Kozakiewicz for two years and nine months, with a non-parole period of 16-and-a-half months.

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