GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
A sting by the sister of a teenage victim of a paedophile led to a police raid and a Newnham man being eventually sentenced to two years and nine months jail.
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Kirk Russell McKay, 27, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Launceston to two counts of involving a person under 18 years of aged in the production of child exploitation material and a count of possession of such material.
In sentencing Justice Robert Pearce lauded the resourcefulness and quickthinking of the sister of an 11-year-old girl who prompted McKay to identify himself.
The court heard that McKay sent a friend request via Snapchat to the 11-year-old on August 5.
After a short time he asked her to send nude pictures of herself to him.
She resisted sending images until he sent a message: "You don't wanna know what I'll do when I find out who you are and what I'll do to your family".
She sent photographs of her breasts and vagina and he also demanded photos of her in various positions.
On August 29 he threatened to publish on the Internet photos she had already sent.
The girl told her older sister who located McKay on Snapchat and began communicating with him.
She took pictures of McKay's messages with a second phone which avoided alerting McKay via notification of a screenshot.
Justice Pearce said the nature of the Snapchat was that pictures disappeared after seconds.
She persuaded McKay to send an image of himself. McKay sent three images with a portion of his face included.
Police were able to identify him and in June 2021 police raided McKay's home and seized his phone. A search found 108 images of a second victim also 11-years-old.
Fifty of the images were classified as level 2 child exploitation material, being sexual with no sexual acts.
McKay demanded that the girl prove that the pictures were taken in real time by telling her to write Kirk in black marker pen across her groin. The girl's bedroom in the background of the photo aided idenitification.
Justice Pearce said that McKay had resorted to threats of violence to achieve his aim of getting her to send images.
He said that he had a record for crimes of violence, dishonesty, and driving charges.
He was subject to two wholly suspended jail sentences, which had been activated, at the time of the crimes.
Justice Pearce said the predatory nature made it a serious crime.
"You did not send the images to anyone else but had added to the trauma of the first victim by threatening to publish them on the internet," he said.
He said that such crimes were difficult to detect and victims were vulnerable because of their age.
"One images are provided the victims are trapped," he said.
He said that while he had not victim impact statements prosecution had provided advice that showed both victims had suffered dislocation and alienation from their families.
"But for the resourcefulness and quick thinking of the sister of [one of the victims] the offences may not have been detected," he said.
Justice Pearce said that but for the guilty plea McKay would have been sentenced to up to three years and six months jail.
He allowed McKay to apply for parole after one year and nine months.
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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.
