A MAYFIELD man who was charged after he was caught trying to procure a child under 16 for sex in a police sting, and transmitting abuse material, will be sentenced on Thursday.
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James Kendall Newton, who turned 42 this week, was formally convicted in Newcastle District Court on Tuesday of two counts after he re-affirmed guilty pleas he previously entered in the local court.
Newton's defence barrister told the sentencing hearing that the two child abuse material videos he transmitted depicted "serious and grave material" but fell towards the lower end of the spectrum of offences of that type.
The defence called for Judge Peter McGrath to find special circumstances when sentencing Newton because he had been exposed to violence while growing up and started drinking alcohol from a young age, saying the Mayfield man did not have a sexual interest in children but was drunk at the time of the offending.
According to a statement of agreed facts, Newton began chatting online with someone he thought was a single 36-year-old mother of a nine-year-old girl - but was actually an undercover police officer - in September 2022.
Over the next three months, Newton sent repeated messages to the officer, describing acts of sexual abuse he wished to perform on the child.
He tried to get the person he was chatting with to express willingness to take part in the abuse, saying he was "keen to share" the child - who he referred to as "princess".
The online exchanges stopped on December 12, 2022, and Newton was arrested by Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad detectives in February, 2023.
They seized two smart phones, a tablet and a laptop. Forensic examination of the devices uncovered two videos containing child abuse material.
Newton received the videos as "previews" for footage he planned to buy online according to the statement of facts.
