Source : Perth Now news
Warning: Distressing Content.
A former Catholic priest who said he was looking for a “hot new baby” was willing to pay a child $50 for sex before he was caught in a police sting, a court has been told.
Guy Norman Hartcher, 79, admitted to a raft of child abuse offences including three counts of procuring teenagers to engage in sex and eight counts of transmitting, accessing or soliciting child abuse material (CAM) using a carriage service.
The former Catholic priest used online messaging applications to speak with a series of people both in Australia and overseas about child sexual activity, with Hartcher transmitting and receiving a series of CAM – including 32 images relating to children aged between five and 15 – as well as videos throughout 2024.
Then aged 77, he wrote “depraved”, “highly offensive, descriptive CAM” that included “highly sexualised content including detailed graphic descriptions of children engaging in sexual acts”, Judge Phillip Mahony SC told the NSW District Court on Friday.
This included a text Hartcher sent which stated: “I’m looking for a hot new baby”.
Much of Hartcher’s offending is too distressing to publish.
His web of child abuse was unravelled when he began speaking with a user by the name of Ben, who told Hartcher he was a “nearly 15”.
In reality, Ben was a police officer from the NSW Child Exploitation Sex Crimes Squad.
Hartcher sent several sexualised messages and CAM images to “Ben” before they agreed to meet up on December 23, 2024 in Pendle Hill in Greater Western Sydney.
When police approached his car, Hartcher said “I thought I was meeting this fellow, Ben, who I met online”.
“I knew he was underage and I’m assuming he is not here, and I’m assuming he is you,” Hartcher told officers during his arrest.
Hartcher later said he did not believe Ben was 14 and that he “wanted to meet him solely to talk”, according to a sentencing assessment report summarised in court, with the former priest describing his actions as “dangerously stupid”.
Hartcher was also going to give one of the alleged victims $50 to meet up for sex, the court was told, and in another instance he replied “f**k baby you are so hot” when he was sent an image of an exposed female child.
“It is pernicious offending which involves callous and predatory conduct towards the most vulnerable people in the community,” Judge Mahony said.
He branded the dissemination of CAM a “callous and predatory crime” given that it comes into existence by way of exploiting children.
“It is not a victimless crime,” Judge Mahony said.
Hartcher will spend at least three years behind bars after Judge Mahony sentenced him to an overall term of six years and six months imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years.
Hartcher had said his behaviour was driven by a need for “sexual resurrection” according to a sentencing assessment report, with the former priest also telling a psychiatrist that it “was all fantasy”.
Judge Mahony accepted Hartcher feels “great shame” over his offending and that impaired judgment arising from an acquired brain injury he acquired in 2002 contributed to his offending behaviour, along with his intellectual decline.
He also found that he “had a clear interest in pedophilia”.
However, this does not justify the “significant depravity” of the offending, Judge Mahony ruled.
Hartcher was escorted out of the courtroom by corrective services officers.
He will be eligible for release on parole in August 2029, and will be subject to a registrable person order for a period of 15 years.
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