A North East man who had sex with a 14-year-old girl multiple times and shared a topless image of her on a Facebook group chat, taken without her permission, will be a registered sex offender for life.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The man - who can't be named to protect the victim's identity - has narrowly been spared jail in the Wangaratta County Court.
But the man, who was 19 at the time of the offending, will have to perform 250 hours of community work and will have tight restrictions on his behaviour as a registered sex offender for life.
The then-teenager started a relationship with the victim in October 2016, and they attended the Wangaratta Show together before staying at a friend's home.
IN OTHER NEWS:
He had sex with her at the home and again had sex with her at a friend's home in Bright.
The man moved in with the victim and her mother towards the end of 2016 on the proviso he slept on the floor and the girl's bedroom door remain open.
They had sex in the bedroom once, and again had sex at a New Year's Eve party in 2016.
The relationship ended a short time later.
He was added to a Facebook group chat on March 8, 2017, which the victim was also a member of, despite her specifically requesting he be kept out.
The group included male students from the victim's school, and the man sent a topless image of the girl he had taken without her knowledge.
The victim was interviewed in July 2017 and the offender was arrested on July 3 last year.
Judge Mandy Fox said age of consent laws were designed to protect children, and noted the seriousness of the child pornography charge.
"Sending intimate photos out of spite after a relationship has ended is a cruel thing to do, and designed to inflict harm and public embarrassment," she said.
"The complainant here was understandably distressed and humiliated by what you did."
