No jail for child groomer

A RAAF corporal who tried to groom a 14- year- old girl online while deployed in the Middle East has avoided jail time.

Andrew Geoffrey Strange, 47, used a defence computer in the United Arab Emirates to chat to an undercover police officer posing as a teenager.

He pleaded guilty in Townsville District Court to possessing child exploitation material ( CEM), using a carriage service to groom and illegal importation of CEM.

Commonwealth prosecutor Chris Moore said Strange was serving in the United Arab Emirates on May 16 last year when he started using a website called “Teen Chat”. He started speaking to who he thought was a 14- year- old girl.

“He ( said) he was looking for a teen girl to become friends with, and maybe have sex with,” Mr Moore said. “He asked personal questions of the child, they also spoke over Skype.”

Mr Moore said Strange continued to ask the girl for pictures on May 24 and June 7.

“The defendant made detailed plans to meet the child when he returned to Australia, requesting that she wear or bring with her specific items of clothing, including a school uniform,” he said.

Strange’s living quarters at the Al Minhad Air Base were raided on August 23 last year, and investigators found an iPhone with nine photos and six videos of CEM.

He was arrested upon his compulsory return to Australia two days later. Strange illegally brought a Defence- branded USB stick with two CEM images on it into Australia.

Mr Moore said while Strange had a “deliberate and planned course of conduct” that lasted for a month, he stopped talking to the undercover police officer two months before his arrest.

Defence barrister Scott Geeves said after his arrest, Strange suffered a “fall from grace” and was discharged from service. Mr Geeves said Strange’s marriage ended at the end of 2015 and his wife started a new relationship.

“That caused a great deal of stress to Mr Strange. Before he deployed to Abu Dhabi in March 2016, he was presented before an independent welfare board due to stress,” he said.

Mr Geeves said Strange was still allowed to have a relationship with his children, aged seven and two, but it was restricted.

Chief Judge Kerry O’Brien sentenced Strange to a twoyear good behaviour bond and 18 months’ probation.