A South Australian man who ignored a police warning and used Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram to sexually abuse young girls around the world has been jailed for at least three years.
WARNING: This story contains graphic content that readers may find distressing.
Naim Anderson, 21, pleaded guilty in the South Australian District Court to 13 child sex offences, including using a carriage service to procure sexual activity with a child under 16, and accessing, transmitting and soliciting child abuse material.
The offending – which involved girls as young as four – occurred over an 18-month period between February 2019 and August 2020.
Anderson used social media platforms to "aggressively" sexually communicate with and film several young girls, including in the United States and Canada.
During sentencing, Judge Julie McIntyre said the majority of the victims had not been identified but would have suffered from Anderson's offending.
"The recordings demonstrate you encouraged, persuaded and instructed the victims about what you wanted them to do," she said.
"You used these unfortunate girls for your own sexual gratification with no thought for them.
"Not only do they have to cope with what happened during these communications, but they also have to live with the fear that images and videos of them may exist on the internet to resurface at any time."
Anderson also "actively" sought out and shared child abuse material.
He had about 150 images and 24 "highly depraved and degrading" videos on his mobile phones.
Anderson caught from FBI lead
Judge McIntyre said there were more uncharged acts.
She said the offending came to light in May 2019, when one of the victim's parents contacted the FBI in the United States, who referred the information to police in Western Australia, where Anderson was living at the time.
Police spoke with Anderson, who lied about the allegations, saying he was not aware of the girl's age and that communication between the two had stopped when he realised.
"Regrettably, you did not heed the police warning; you continued to offend until your arrest," Judge McIntyre said.
Anderson was arrested at the Kilburn railway station in South Australia more than a year later believing he was meeting a 14-year-old girl.
He then went on to breach his bail, including by using his mobile phone to view pornography.
He has been sentenced to six years in prison with a non-parole period of three years, backdated to February when his bail was revoked.
"Your offending was not a one-off or fleeting incursion into criminality, rather it was a deliberate course of offending over a period of 18 months," Judge McIntyre said.
"You continued with it despite a warning from police.
"Indeed, there was an apparent escalation in your offending in that you increasingly sought material relating to very young children."
In setting a lower than usual non-parole period, Judge McIntyre said Anderson's personal circumstances "excited sympathy" and he was unlikely to receive the psychological and psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation he needed while in prison.
Outside court, Anderson's family laughed when asked about his offences.
