Dapto "sex addict" Ryan Suttle has been sentenced to almost eight years jail for having unlawful sex with underage girls and harassing them on social media.
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The 26-year-old plead guilty to harassing teens via Snapchat and Instagram, paying underage teens for sex in acts of child prostitution and videoing some of them to make child pornography over a four-year period between 2014 and 2018.
He preyed on vulnerable underage girls, grooming and manipulating his way into their lives so he could use them for his own insatiable sexual pleasure.
In Wollongong District Court on Thursday, Judge Andrew Haesler said Suttle "took advantage" of his seven victims who were aged 14 and 15.
"Suttle's crimes exploited young women. [He] showed a callous disregard for them," he said.
"Suttle has been forced, deservedly so, to learn hard lessons about the need to respect others, young women in particular.
"He and others must find the harshness of custodial punishment and learn the consequences of sexual offending against children.
"Social media networks offer many advantages but they can be misused and innocence exploited.
"[Suttle] was knowingly taking advantage of children.
"He lied to them about who he was and his motivations were purely selfish.
"He thought only of himself and his own sexual gratification."
Suttle, who appeared in court via video link from his jail cell, shook his head and appeared to wipe his eyes, when Judge Haesler announced a head sentence of seven years and 11 months.
He set a non-parole period of four years and 11 months. With time served Suttle eligible to apply for parole on March 2023.
Meanwhile, some of the young victims and their families were present in court and Suttle was supported by his parents and siblings.
A set of agreed facts tendered in court said Suttle's victims were drawn into his web after he sent them a friend request on Snapchat then spent weeks or months of grooming them with sexually explicit conversations.
He would send them a picture of his erect penis and asked them to meet up and perform sexual acts on him.
Suttle eventually had sex with four of the seven victims, talking each of them into allowing him to film the acts on his mobile phone.
The sex was never forced, but each of the girls was unable to legally consent because they were underage.
He even paid one of the girls in cash, alcohol and cigarettes to send him naked pictures of herself and perform sex acts on him.
Suttle - who was involved in the family cleaning business, had a steady girlfriend, enjoyed a talent for soccer and was saving to buy his first house - was arrested in February 2018 after one of the girls reported his depraved behaviour to her parents, then police.
Police counted nine victims in total however only seven were able to be identified.
Judge Haesler read out comments made by psychologist Anita Duffy who assessed Suttle prior to sentencing.
She diagnosed him with a sex addiction, a daily gambling habit and severe depression, all of which coincided with a back injury in 2015 that left him bed-ridden and unable to play soccer for almost a year.
Suttle was charged with 86 offences in total, however admitted to 45 of them in a plea bargain struck with the Director of Public Prosecutions.
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