A man who indecently assaulted two girls, aged 12 and 14, after meeting them on social media has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Stephen James Robert Jones, 23, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one count of grooming with intent to expose a young person to indecent material.
He was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on July 7 by Justice Tamara Jago.
The court heard Jones met the first girl on Snapchat in April 2022. She was 14. He was 19.
He asked her about sex, sent her explicit images and a video of himself and asked her for nude photographs.
In May 2022, he arranged to meet her, kissed her and touched her thigh.
Jones was 20 when he collected the second girl from football training in July 2023. She stayed two nights at his house and, on the second night, he kissed her neck.
The court accepted Jones may not have known she was only 12 at first, but found he knew she was under 15 by the time she stayed at his house.
Associates warned him she was as young as 13. The court heard he continued messaging her and told her he loved her.
Jago said the protection of children was “the factor of overwhelming importance” when sentencing for crimes of this nature.
She found the offending was serious and not spontaneous and said she had no doubt the crimes had caused psychological harm.
She accepted evidence from a psychologist that Jones had a mild intellectual disability and ADHD, which affected his ability to understand the wrongfulness of what he had done.
The psychologist found Jones was not sexually deviant and would be vulnerable in prison.
Jago sentenced him to 15 months in jail, wholly suspended for two years.
Jones was also placed on a 12-month community correction order and must complete 84 hours of community service.
His name will be placed on the sex offender register for two years, a shorter period than usual, which the judge said reflected his limitations.
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