Mark Kevin Swain: Sugar daddy cop acquitted on all counts over allegations he indecently dealt with 14yo girl

A former Geraldton police officer has been found not guilty of indecently dealing with a 14-year-old girl and asking her for sex after they met on a sugar daddy app. Mark Kevin Swain, 50, was acquitted on all counts by a District Court jury on Friday night after a three-day trial and more than seven hours of deliberations. Mr Swain was accused of asking a 14-year-old girl, whom he met on the dating app Sugar Daddy Meet, to have sex with him for $400 and touching her on the leg twice. Jurors heard evidence from the 14-year-old girl, who had faked her age on the dating site claiming to be over 18. She said she signed up to the app for fun after watching a TikTok video explaining young girls could get paid to meet older men. She visited Mr Swain at his Wandina home late at night in August 2022 with her 14-year-old best friend, where they were supplied alcohol. Mr Swain in his evidence said he started “s....ing” himself once he saw how young the girls were inside his home, and only continued hosting them for their own safety. “Father and policeman kicked in and I thought, ‘f......’ hell, something needs to happen with these girls’,” he told detectives. The 14-year-old girls alleged Mr Swain engaged in sexual topics while sitting in the lounge room, asking the girl about her sexual history and favourite sex positions. The court heard the 14-year-old friend made up a lie that her boyfriend had been robbed and the girls ran out of the house, but returned after they could not get a taxi. Mr Swain drove the girls to an address in Beresford where they both departed. The 14-year-old friend admitted to stealing the former cop’s wallet and a bottle of Galliano at some point during the night. Jurors were told the following day, the 14-year-old girl messaged Mr Swain and threatened to tell his teenage son he was a sugar daddy if he did not pay her. The girls changed out of their school uniform and met him at a carpark near Wonda Bake, where the 14-year-old friend video-recorded the 14-year-old leaving Mr Swain’s car with $200. Jurors heard the girls fronted up at Mr Swain’s son’s school, where they told him “your dad’s f...ed” and that he was a sugar daddy, flaunting the cash and showing the video to prove it. Mr Swain explained he used the dating site because he was lonely and was looking to find a loving relationship. But State prosecutor Cameron Henderson asked jurors to question why he would go by the fake name John if he was looking for a genuine relationship. He said it was “odd” he never mentioned he was a police officer and it made more sense he was encouraging them for sex rather than looking out for their safety. “It’s simply beggars belief that he would take her into his bedroom if his view was ‘you’re way too young, I’ve got no sexual interest in you and I want you out of the house’,“ Mr Henderson said. Defence lawyer David McKenzie said the 14-year-old girls planned to steal from Mr Swain, and the 14-year-old girl had lured him into the bedroom as a distraction so her friend could steal his wallet and alcohol. He argued the girls had lied about the allegations to “deflect” the attention away from them. “(The 14-year-old) is not right, and she’s not honest, and nothing happened that night,” Mr McKenzie said. Mr Swain was found not guilty of encouraging a child under 16 to engage in sexual behaviour and two counts of indecent dealing. But he is due in Geraldton Magistrates Court on October 14 for sentencing on two counts of supplying alcohol to minors.