A pervert has been jailed after he tried to groom a teenage girl – actually an undercover cop – with promises of a life on Centrelink benefits.
Robert Leslie Watson, 38, met the fake girl on Facebook in early 2014 after authorities became aware of his online child sex fantasies, court facts said.
The nunchuck-wielding, meth-abusing predator quickly confirmed detectives’ suspicions by asking the teenager: ‘Have you ever done any stuff … like sex stuff?’
Watson soon declared he would ‘love to take a girl’s virginity’ and, after a webcam conversation where he could not see her, invited the girl to live with him.
The nunchuck-wielding, meth-abusing predator quickly confirmed detectives’ suspicions by asking the fake teenager: ‘Have you ever done any stuff … like sex stuff?’ (stock image)
Messages exchanged between the undercover police officer and Robert Leslie Watson (digital mock up from court documents)
‘Get your sweet a** down here,’ he said.
‘I’d look after you til you got on Centrelink or something.’
Shortly after suggesting the prospect of a life spent on welfare with a child sex fantasist, the ‘girl’ agreed to meet Watson at a McDonalds fast food outlet.
Court facts said the pervert became concerned at one point because he ‘still haven’t seen u for real’ but forged ahead with the meeting regardless after asking: ‘Do u like me?’
Watson was arrested on July 1, 2014, telling investigators ‘he was meeting a friend who he met online.’
Watson told officers he thought he might have just been communicating ‘with an old dude’ and that it was ‘just a bit of a fantasy silly thing’ with a ‘weirdo’.
The pervert told his victim: ‘I’d look after you til you got on Centrelink or something’
The ‘girl’ agreed to meet him at a McDonalds fast food outlet at Armidale, New South Wales
‘I had no intentions of having sex with that girl and in no way we did,’ Watson said, according to court facts. ‘I spoke to her as a fantasy honestly thinking that it was just a weirdo’.
Watson was charged with grooming a child under 16 years, transmitting child pornography material and receiving child pornography material.
He pleaded not guilty to all three offences but the jury disavowed his defences.
He will spend at least three years and six months behind bars, with District Court Judge Phillip Mahony finding he showed ‘little remorse or contrition’.