- Warning: graphic content
A PLASTIC surgeon has pleaded guilty to child prostitution offences after he paid young girls to meet him at a Newcastle hotel and send him photos on Snapchat.
Richard Paris Sackelariou, now 70, fronted Newcastle Local Court via video link from jail on Wednesday.
He pleaded guilty to 10 charges, spanning between 2021 and 2022 across Sydney and Newcastle, after prosecutors withdrew dozens of other allegations.
In September 2022, a Newcastle-based girl aged 14 travelled to Sydney to meet Sackelariou at an apartment in the CBD.
He gave her "half" her money in a white envelope, had sexual intercourse with her, performed oral sex on her, offered her $100 for birth control then gave her the other half of the money in a white envelope.
In October 2022, three young teenage girls, two aged 13 and one 15, met Sackelariou at a hotel in Newcastle.
Two of them had already been speaking to the offender on Snapchat, while the other one said she had heard of him and recalled people saying he was a "sugar daddy".
Sackelariou had asked one of the 13-year-olds to have sex with him for $1000, but she declined.
The three teenagers, who can't be identified, and three others arrived at the hotel about 4pm, where a room had been booked for the girls and another for the offender.
Sackelariou kissed one of the 13-year-old girls and performed a sexual act on her.
The other 13-year-old girl saw he was an "old man" and did not feel comfortable, so she left. He gave her $150, which she understood was to "stay quiet".
The offender didn't have physical contact with the 15-year-old at the hotel in Newcastle that afternoon, but continued to give her money and asked her for nude photos.
Police discovered he had paid the two 13-year-old girls $1140 and $510, and the 15-year-old $2307, plus the cash in white envelopes.
Sackelariou was arrested at his Vaucluse home in November 2022.
He pleaded guilty on November 6 to four counts of causing a child between 14 and 18 to do an act of child prostitution, and two counts of attempting to.
He pleaded guilty to one count each of possessing child abuse material, possessing or controlling child abuse material using a carriage service, causing a child aged 14 or over to make child abuse material and using a carriage service to procure a child under 16 for sexual activity.
The string of charges covers several incidents involving different children in different locations. A statement of agreed facts, spanning dozens of pages, was handed up to the court and laid bare graphic details of the offending.
Magistrate Janine Lacy committed Sackelariou to the Newcastle District Court for sentencing.
His first mention date in that court will be in December this year.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; MensLine 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.
