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A South Australian man has been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for grooming a child and accessing child abuse material via social media platforms.

The man, 34, was sentenced in the District Criminal Court in Adelaide today (27 August, 2024), after pleading guilty in June 2024 to four child abuse related offences.

The South Australian Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (SA JACET), comprising members from the AFP and South Australia Police, investigated the man after receiving information from the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) about a South Australian grooming a child online and sending explicit communications about child abuse material via social platforms.

Investigators then linked the SA man to the online offending and executed a search warrant at his home in the Adelaide suburb of Munno Para in January 2024. During the search, investigators located several electronic devices, including a mobile phone, containing child abuse material.

The man was then arrested and charged with one offence relating to grooming a child aged under 16 and two counts of accessing child abuse material.

The man has been sentenced to four years and one month imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years and one month.

AFP Sergeant Joe Barry said the AFP and its partners were committed to protecting children from being exploited.

“Our investigators work tirelessly to identify offenders to ensure they are prosecuted,” Sgt Barry said.

“Child exploitation is not a victimless crime. Children are not commodities to be used for the abhorrent gratification of sexual predators.”

The AFP and its partners are committed to stopping child exploitation and abuse and the ACCCE is driving a collaborative national approach to combatting child abuse.

The ACCCE brings together specialist expertise and skills in a central hub, supporting investigations into online child sexual exploitation and developing prevention strategies focused on creating a safer online environment.

Members of the public who have information about people involved in child abuse are urged to contact the ACCCE. If you know abuse is happening right now or a child is at risk, call police immediately on 000.

If you or someone you know is impacted by child sexual abuse and online exploitation, support services are available.

Research conducted by the ACCCE in 2020 revealed only about half of parents talked to their children about online safety. Advice and support for parents and carers about how they can help protect children online can be found on the ThinkUKnow website, an AFP-led education program designed to prevent online child sexual exploitation.

For more information on the role of the ACCCE, what is online child sexual exploitation and how to report it visit the ACCCE website.

Note to media

Use of term CHILD ABUSE MATERIAL not CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

The correct legal term is Child Abuse Material – the move to this wording was among amendments to Commonwealth legislation in 2019 to more accurately reflect the gravity of the crimes and the harm inflicted on victims.

Use of the phrase ‘child pornography’ is inaccurate and benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and
• conjures images of children posing in 'provocative' positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

Every photograph or video captures an actual situation where a child has been abused.