A St Leonards man forced young girls in the United States and Australia to send explicit videos and images of themselves by making threats to tell their families, the Supreme Court in Launceston heard.
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Samuel Darren Connell, 24, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of involving a person under the age of 18 years in the production of child exploitation material and a count of possession of child exploitation material.
The offences occurred between June 1, 2018 and the February 7, 2020, and involved images and videos.
Crown prosecutor Simone Wilson said that in November 19 police in the US state of Minnesota received a complaint from a 12-year old girl who had been requested to send nude photos via Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube by a "13 year-old boy"[Connell].
Ms Wilson said an investigation traced the IP address to Connell's home in St Leonards.
Tasmania Police raided the address and found five electronic devices including a phone, laptop and three hard drives. They found a notebook with the names of a further 10 victims-having been aware of just one victim prior to the search. Ms Wilson said the Australian and US victims were aged between nine and fifteen years old.
Connell had groomed and used threats to demand videos and nude images from the girls.
She said he had been manipulative and controlling using threats to disclose previous images to friends, family and schools. "Some of the material involved humiliating sex acts on the young girls," Ms Wilson said.
"Some were clearly in distress while doing it and sometimes in tears."
"We accept the motive is sexual, Mr Connell identifies and accepts that he has an interest in females under 18 years old," Mr Doyle said. He said Connell derived some pleasure from controlling aspects of the behaviour.
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Mr Doyle submitted that Connell should be considered for a home detention order because he would be vulnerable in a prison environment. However, Ms Wilson said that the continued sexual interest in young girls meant there was still a risk he would reoffend.
"He only has to have access to an electronic device," she said.
"The State's submission is that a home detention order is not a proper punitive sanction.
Justice Robert Pearce agreed and remanded him in custody for sentence on December 16.
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
