A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to almost four years in prison after pleading guilty to 39 child abuse related charges when was living in Katherine.
Sean Battye was arrested by an anti-child exploitation team made up of Australian Federal Police (AFP) and NT Police in March and was held in custody until his trial this month in the Northern Territory Supreme Court.
Police launched an investigation late last year after the AFP received a report from the United States about an online user uploading child abuse material to a platform called Discord — an online messaging space mostly used by gamers.
A search was carried out at Battye’s home and police seized his phone, which has been used as evidence in court.
It was found that from October 2021 to March 2022, Battye had targeted female children between the ages of 10 and 15 years, communicating with them on Discord using a fictitious online persona, that of a young girl called “Boring Girl”.
In handing down his judgement in the Supreme Court this week acting Justice Trevor Riley said the offending, which exploited 19 children, was "serious" conduct which would have had "a significantly detrimental impact upon your victims".
“You groomed them and, at times, threatened them if they ceased to cooperate. Your conduct was highly manipulative, persistent and sexually motivated. It took place over several months and only came to an end with the intervention of police," he said.
At the time of arrest, Battye, who does not have a criminal history, was found to be in possession of 31 images and videos.
Justice Riley described the images that Battye had obtained from his victims as “sexualised, quite inappropriate and quite disturbing”.
“You often located the victims on public group chats, and you would then 'friend' the child and begin a private conversation with them,” Justice Riley said in his sentencing remarks.
“If a victim ceased to send you sexually explicit images, you would use the images that the victim had already sent as leverage to demand more.
“You would threaten to distribute the images of the victim if they did not send further content. Your demands and threats were persistent and escalated.”
Justice Riley said he took into account Battye’s "early and frank admissions to police” and his remorse but could not neglect the market accessing child abuse creates for the “continued corruption and exploitation of children.”
“Accessing child abuse material is not a victimless crime,” he said.
Acting Superintendent Malcolm Bickford said AFP investigators were “relentless” in their pursuit of child abuse material.
“This investigation should serve as a warning that we are dedicated to fighting child sexual abuse and bringing those who commit these offences before the court,” he said.
Battye has been sentenced to three years and nine months in jail with a non-parole period of two years.
