Grooming charge ‘a warning’ to parents

SPECIALIST Cairns child protection police are urging parents to monitor their children’s online behaviour after a Gordonvale man was charged with grooming a teenage girl.

It is alleged the 24-year-old man spent two months talking to the 15-year-old local girl through various messaging platforms including social media, distributing indecent pictures of both himself and young children.

Police will allege the man purported to be a teenager online while speaking with the girl during December 2016 and January 2017. He has been charged with one count each of possessing and distributing child exploitation material, grooming a child under 16 years and using the internet to procure a child under 16.

Cairns Child Protection and Investigation Unit Det Sen-Sgt Mick Gooiker said the alleged offence should serve as a warning to Far North families.

“Parents need to speak to their kids and kids need to be aware that the person they are speaking to online may not be who they say they are,” he said.

Detectives from CPIU spoke to the man on Tuesday afternoon and then took him into custody.

He is due to appear in the Cairns Magistrates Court for the first time on September 7.

Det Sen-Sgt Gooiker said the investigation was ongoing and further charges could be laid.