A CONVICTED child sex offender has avoided prison after he engaged in a "disgusting" group chat titled 'Family' on an LGBTQI+ dating app.
Judge Roy Ellis sentenced Danny Glenn Waters, 47, in Newcastle District Court on Friday, ordering he spend three years on a recognizance release order with conditions and pay a $5000 security for his role in an online chat over two days in January, 2020.
"The agreed facts do not suggest the offender has reduced moral culpability, his motivation was his own sexual gratification without regard for the intrinsic harm caused on any child," he said.
"These conversations were disgusting in themselves but even more so when his co-offenders had paedophilic tendencies."
In a court first, Judge Ellis allowed Waters' ex-wife to submit a victim impact statement to the court detailing the suffering Waters' actions had caused her, despite not being a direct victim of the crime.
"In my experience of over 40 years in criminal law, these are consequences well known to judicial officers," he said.
"I have decided to admit the statement of Ms Waters, I give it little weight albeit it goes into the mix of material before me."
The court heard a forensic psychiatrist found Waters behaviour didn't warrant a diagnosis of paedophilic disorder, instead becoming involved in the messages on the LGBTQI+ dating app because of what Judge Ellis denounced as an "abhorrent" expression of his sexuality.
Police evidence shows he sent a picture of his erect penis to the two men in the group chat.
As a result of investigations, Australian Federal Police executed a search warrant and seized Waters' iPhone for which he provided passwords.
Waters had no prior criminal history and there was no evidence to suggest he had engaged in sexually explicit conversations regarding children before the messages sent on January 19 and 20, 2020.
There was no other child abuse material found on his computer, tablet or mobile phone.
Judge Ellis said Waters had been on strict bail conditions for two years and seven months, banned from leaving his house unless he was with an immediate family member and required to come to the door no less than 100 times for police custody checks.
Waters was sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment, expiring January 2026, but was ordered to enter into a recognizance release order immediately for three years.
It means he will avoid going to prison, but must be on good behaviour and follow court-imposed conditions for at least two years to comply with treatment and counselling, take prescribed medicines and follow all medical advice regarding his 'sexual deviancy'.
He cannot travel interstate over overseas without the permission of his probation officer and was ordered to forfeit his iPhone to the Commonwealth.
