A former Solomon Islands flight attendant who was convicted of trying to groom a 14-year-old girl online has been spared time behind bars.
Samuel Terrence Rova was handed a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, in Brisbane Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, after he plead guilty to trying to groom a child under 16.
The 37-year-old was arrested in July at Brisbane International Airport following five lengthy and ‘sexually inquisitive’ conversations on adult dating website Badoo with an officer posing as an underage girl.
Former Solomon Islands flight attendant, Samuel Terrence Rova (pictured), who was convicted of trying to groom a 14-year-old girl online, has been spared time behind bars
Rova’s lawyer Bruce Peters slammed the behaviour of investigators however, lashing out at Queensland police and saying their treatment of his client ‘smacks of entrapment’.
‘It is just what I would call, on behalf of the Queensland Police, a misogynist wet dream,’ Mr Peters said.
‘To indicate that Queensland youth, in particular young girls, are willing to prostitute themselves on adult websites, lie, falsify identification and lose their virginities to foreigners.
‘It’s an insult to the community the way that they’ve set this up.’
The Brisbane Magistrates Court heard the girl had advertised herself as being 18 but revealed her younger age and that she was still in school when she first spoke to Rova.
‘Can you keep a secret … I’m only 14,’ the girl said.
The 37-year-old was arrested in July at Brisbane International Airport (pictured) following five lengthy and ‘sexually inquisitive’ conversations on adult dating website Badoo with an officer posing as an underage girl
He was handed a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, in Brisbane Magistrate’s Court (pictured) on Tuesday, after he plead guilty to trying to groom a child under 16
The court also heard the girl repeatedly told Rova she was only 14, however he continued to say ‘graphic things’ to her and sent a photo of himself in his underwear.
He also made a request to meet the girl for ‘sexual congress’.
Mr Peters said Rova ‘lost his moral compass’ but had not been ‘trolling for children’ and was ‘not a predator to children’.
‘Temptation was put to him, it was their dark little secret and he acted on it.
In handing down his punishment, magistrate Cathy McLennan said Rova ‘allowed things to get out of control’ after being told the girl’s age.
‘At that point you should have backed down, you did not,’ Ms McLennan said.
Rova has spent the past five months in immigration detention.