A court has heard the ongoing impact a young girl has felt after she was groped by a Horsley man who has also admitted to trying to meet another girl for sex and sharing child pornography.
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Ross Pusser, 42, fronted Wollongong District Court on Friday for a sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty to several child sex offences.
In documents tendered to court, a victim impact statement written by the girl's mother said her daughter, who Pusser sexually touched, had experienced bed wetting, bad behaviour at home and school and difficulty sleeping.
The statement said the daughter also refused to stay in her bedroom where the assault occurred and was now less affectionate with her mother, adding she did not like people being too close to her.
An agreed set of facts said Pusser began a brief casual relationship with an Illawarra woman, who had a young daughter, and on two occasions Pusser stayed the night at their home, one time leaving his pillow there.
During one of those nights, Pusser went into the girl's bedroom whilst she was asleep and touched her genitals over the top of her pyjamas while the blankets were off.
The girl said Pusser was close enough that he could smell mint on his breath but he did not speak to her and she did not say anything to him before he left.
Following his arrest after he arranged to meet a girl for sex, the mother asked her daughter, "has anyone ever touched your private area?"
"Yes, the man who forgot his pillow," the daughter replied before adding she had pushed Pusser's hand away and he put it back.
The mother contacted police and her daughter reported the incident.
Detectives charged Pusser whilst in prison in July last year.
A separate agreed set of facts tendered to court said Pusser was arrested after officers assumed an online identity of a 13-year-old girl in April 2020 and began messaging Pusser via Instagram then Skype.
Pusser spoke to the "girl" between April 8 and June 10 and on multiple occasions the officer referred to being a 13-year-old girl, in year 7 and the need to avoid detection from her mother.
On two occasions, Pusser attempted to solicit videos from the "girl" in the shower.
The conversations escalated and Pusser discussed various sexual topics with the "girl', telling her specific activities he would like to do with her when they met in person.
He was arrested on June 11 last year at Dapto Railway station where he had arranged to meet up with who he thought was the 13-year-old girl but was in fact police officers.
Officers found 268 videos and images of child abuse material.on his phone. Police discovered Pusser had stored images in a 'mega' sharing account and transmitted child abuse material to four people.
He pleaded guilty to the charge of intentionally sexually touching a child under 10 years, as well as six Commonwealth charges of using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material; using a carriage service to procure child under 16 for sexual activity; three counts of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material; and possess controlled material using a carriage service.
In court on Friday, Judge Richard Weinstein heard submissions from Crown prosecutors and Pusser's defence barrister Adam Booker.
Tanya Collison said Pusser was not a "stranger in the street" as he was known to the girl and he made a "conscious decision to enter the bedroom".
Mr Booker said his client's time in custody has been "more onerous" due to being in protection as well as his illnesses including a heart condition and mental health but conceded he was being treated whilst in custody.
Judge Weinstein determined and will take into account Pusser's childhood trauma.
During the court proceedings Pusser regularly sobbed and wiped away tears.
Judge Weinstein will deliver his sentence on July 16.
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