Apprentice of the year hopeful filmed boy sex abuse, court hears

A Queensland apprentice of the year nominee accused of sharing footage of his sex assault on a  boy in a toilet, had in his possession 5000 photos and 150 films of children being sexually abused.

Nicholas Stanton Battle Slaughter abused a teen boy and had more than 5000 photos and films of children being harmed by adult males.

AN APPRENTICE of the year nominee will serve no time in jail despite sexually abusing a boy, sending photos and videos of the assault to friends on social media and having a massive collection of child exploitation material showing adult men hurting tiny children.

Former Sunshine Coast University student Nicholas Stanton Battle Slaughter pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Monday to a range of charges including indecent dealing of a child under 16, making and possessing child exploitation material and using a carriage service to solicit child pornography material.

The 19-year-old was sentenced to 18 months in jail but this was wholly suspended for three years.

He will need to be of good behaviour for 20 years and will forfeit $2000 if he re-offends.

The court heard the East Coast Apprentice of the Year nominee and Redcliffe Golf Club employee coerced a 15-year-old boy to perform a sex act on him in a public toilet.

Slaughter also sexually violated the boy and took videos and photos of the abuse, which he then shared to at least five others via Snapchat.

Slaughter, who has strong family connections to Kingaroy, was 18 when the assault in the toilet occurred.

The court heard the sex was "consensual", but the victim told police he gave in to Slaughter's demands because "he felt bad" for him.

The victim's parents found out about the abuse and contacted police.

During their investigations, officers unearthed around 5000 photos and 150 videos of child exploitation in Slaughter's electronic devices.

The material included footage of an adult male raping a toddler, another of a small child forced to perform an act on an adult and images of five-year-old boys forced to perform sex acts on each other.

Slaughter downloaded some of the material into an online hard drive, kept lots of it on his phone and also shared some of the material with others online.

Judge Jennifer Rosengren said the boy Slaughter abused would live with the consequences for a very long time.

"I hope you appreciate the significant impact that you have visited on the complainant," she said.

"The consequences on young people can be very complicated - it can take many years for the full effects to surface."

Judge Rosengran said it was important to remember the children in the videos and photos were real victims.

"I hope you have grown to understand that possessing and sharing child exploitation material is not a victimless crime," she said.

"These children are being subjected to sexual abuse, physical hurt and psychological damage.

"Your sharing of this material encourages the exploitation of vulnerable children."

In sentencing Slaughter, Judge Rosengran said she took into account a letter he wrote to the court showing his remorse for the offending, his young age and the fact he had strong family support and backing from his employer.

- NewsRegional

*For 24-hour sexual violence support, phone the national hotline 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.