Ex-Goulburn nurse caught in police sting trying to groom mother, child

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to child abuse.

A man caught trying to groom a young child and her mother for sex in a police sting operation has avoided being sent to jail, partly due to his age and ill health.

Robert James Thomas Smith, an 80-year-old from Goulburn, was sentenced to an 18-month intensive corrections order, which is a community-based sentence, last month.

In 2021, he was in his late 70s and using a chat room website called Chatiw where he had the username of ‘Bobby’ and listed his age as 43, the recently published decision by the NSW District Court says.

Police began a covert operation, assuming the online identity of a 41-year-old woman who told Smith she had a nine-year-old daughter.

During their conversations, Smith said he wanted the ‘daughter’ to be included in their sexual acts, however reassured the ‘mother’ he was not a “pedo”.

“I think if you and I made love in front of her that’s a good sign I don’t think she would talk then,” he said.

He encouraged sexual acts between the ‘daughter’ and her own ‘mother’ and told the ‘daughter’ he would perform sexual acts with her.

“Kiss her and tell her it’s from me,” Smith told the ‘mother’.

Later, Smith initiated another online conversation with the undercover officers, with Judge Stephen Hanley SC saying it could be inferred from the messages that he was unaware he was speaking with the police again.

In these conversations, the ‘woman’ again said she had a nine-year-old ‘daughter’. Smith ultimately said he wanted to perform sexual acts with the two of them and encouraged such acts between the ‘mother’ and ‘daughter’.

He was arrested at his home on 15 March 2022 and denied having child abuse material in the house. However, when police looked at his phones, they saw he had caused such material to be transmitted to himself.

He told police, “This was a total fantasy” and, “I was always under the impression that you had to be 18 to be on the chat line”.

Judge Hanley said the absence of a real child victim did not mitigate the offending.

“The offending was targeted towards multiple prepubescent children who were only nine years old,” he said.

However, he also said the fact Smith told the ‘mother’ he was 43 indicated he had no intention of meeting her or the child or performing any of the sexual acts. It was also Smith who stopped contacting the undercover police.

Judge Hanley accepted Smith, who worked as a nurse for about 50 years before retiring, was “genuinely remorseful and has empathy for children subjected to this type of offending”.

He took into account Smith’s age and ill health when coming to a sentence and said he did not think he would reoffend.

Smith pleaded guilty to and was convicted of using a carriage service to groom another person to make it easier to procure persons under 16 years of age for sexual activity, using a carriage service to procure person under 16 years of age for sexual activity, as well as using a carriage service to transmit child pornography.

He was also sentenced to a two-year recognisance release order, which is a type of good behaviour order. As part of this, he must undertake treatment or rehabilitation programs as directed.

If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732 or by visiting www.1800respect.org.au. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT on 02 6280 0900, and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call triple zero.