Married New Zealand dad Brent Tony Robertson caught in child sex net

A New Zealand man living in the Mid West was caught sending “disgusting, vile and abhorrent” photos, videos and messages to an undercover police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl named “Lucy”. The month-long online grooming of the “child persona” has now resulted in a two-year plus jail stint for Brent Tony Robertson and automatic deportation to New Zealand after he is finished serving his sentence. The 44-year-old married father was arrested in Geraldton on March 18 while participating in a forklift training course for his mining job in Mt Magnet. He was charged with three counts of using electronic communication to expose a child under 16 to indecent matter after a month-long exchange in 2019 grooming the “child persona” on the messaging service Kik. The District Court sitting in Geraldton was told on Monday that Robertson, using the pseudonym “Brentthekiwi”, sent the undercover police officer selfies, photos of his penis, and porn videos. In custody, police found 14 videos of child exploitation material on his Samsung mobile phone leading to an extra possession charge. Prosecutor Zarah Burgess said the allegations of Robertson attempting to “groom the child” were extremely serious as he had been steadily “acclimating the child to indecent content”. “During conversations the offender acknowledged the age of the persona and made comments about wanting to be intimate with her,” she said. In the messages, Robertson acknowledged the age of “Lucy”, but in one case replied: “Don’t care, it’s you I love, not your age.” Robertson’s lawyer Faye Sellers said the court process had been such a confronting experience for him “he isn’t even going to break the speed limit again”. “He’s aware his visa will be cancelled and he will be deported upon release,” she said. She said Robertson had been in custody since pleading guilty on June 30 in Cue Magistrate’s Court after he became homeless following his family leaving the country and the loss of his job. A pre-sentence assessment found Robertson denied a sexual attraction to children and the conduct represented an inappropriate response to escalating difficulties with his wife. A psychologist reported Robertson’s relocation to a new country “and away from his familiar sources of support contributed to beginning to make use of an online communication application to connect with others”. In sentencing Robertson, Judge Andrew Stavrianou called the material in the case “disgusting”, “vile” and “abhorrent”. Robertson was sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment backdated to June 30 and will be eligible for parole after serving half his sentence.