Sex offender takes ‘bait’

A POLICE operation “threw out the bait” to a man previously sentenced for using the internet to procure a child under 16, and he took it.

Angus Christopher Caelli, 29, pleaded guilty in Cairns District Court to charges almost identical to the one he was previously sentenced for.

The court was told Caelli was sentenced on October 13, 2020, after engaging with a police officer online, believing the officer was a 14-year-old girl.

Then on February 22, 2021, a police officer sent him a friend request, posing as a 15year-old girl.

The court was told Caelli was 27 at the time, and his then counsellor had contacted police and told them he was withdrawn, drinking alcohol and spending a lot of time on the internet.

Caelli asked the “girl” how old she was and she told him she was 15.

The offending had included requests for explicit photographs, sending explicit photographs of himself and instructions on how to engage in sexual acts.

The offending was worse than the original offending, the court was told, because he had gone to a café to meet the girl, where police arrested him.

Crown prosecutor Claudia Georgouras said he had engaged with rehabilitation programs but they had not had any “rehabilitative effect”.

She told the court Caelli was considered not suitable for community-based orders, nor for the sexual offenders program.

Ms Georgouras said Caelli’s sentence should come down to one of community protection.

“He knew that engaging in sex with someone under 16 was illegal,” she said.

“His loneliness places him at risk of (seeking) companionship on the internet. He won’t learn from the punishment of the court – his recidivism is not affected by punishment.”

Defence counsel Michael Dalton said Caelli had a “short sharp stint of punishment in jail” for his previous offending, and had done his time.

“We shouldn’t just throw our hands up in the air and give up on him,” Mr Dalton told the court.

Caelli’s cognitive functioning was probably close to the age of the child, because he had significant lifelong impairments and mental health considerations, the court heard.

As a child of nine months old he had been hospitalised for dehydration, and due to negligence in the hospital he went in to cardiac arrest which led to a significant brain injury.

He suffered from a neurocognitive disorder leukoencephalopathy, ADD and an intellectual disability.

“The point has not been reached where all hope should be given up for you,” Judge Gregory Lynham told him.

Caelli was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, to probation for two years, and directed to undergo counselling or psychiatric treatment.

“If you continue engaging in this perverse sort of conduct then inevitably you will spend the best years of your life in and out of jail.

“This is your last chance. There’ll be no third chances for you.”