By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A judge has raised concerns about a “harmful” teenage online sub-culture as he jailed a Lynbrook predator over luring a 13-year-old into a park and sexually assaulting her in a public toilet cubicle.
Shivnesh Jagroop, 34, pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to eight charges including procuring three girls aged under 16 online in 2020 and 2021.
He also pleaded guilty to using the internet for sexual activity with a 15-year-old, paying her $330 to perform sex acts online over a period of three weeks.
A year after being questioned by police over this, Jagroop re-offended with two 13-year-old girls.
Sentencing judge Simon Moglia said on 17 June that it was “deliberate” and “persistent” conduct including “highly sexualised” content.
Jagroop had offered inducements to engage in sex acts even when he knew of their young ages.
“Your conduct escalated over time and it seems only the intervention of police stopped what you were doing.”
In what the judge described as a “certain sub-culture”, the victims were introduced by their friends to Jagroop’s Snapchat profile.
He said it was a “matter of great concern” that the girls’ online conduct contributed to their own exposure to harm.
It may have contributed to the market for the online exploitation of children, he said.
“This conduct by the girls seemed to have been cooperative either between them or others.
“(It) seems to have arisen in a certain sub-culture featuring a willingness by the girls to engage in harmful activity online by someone such as yourself (Jagroop).
“These are serious matters that must be investigated and I accept that they already are by the authorities and those in … supervisory roles with the children online.”
The girls’ conduct did not make Jagroop’s offending any less grave, the judge said.
Judge Moglia named the online apps and services Snapchat, Skype and Discord as “bearing responsibility for their users’ safety”.
“These matters must be taken seriously by those with power to regulate those online services … used by people such as you to take advantage of the vulnerability of children.”
In October 2021, a 13-year-old girl refused his online sexual requests as well as to meet him in a park to collect money from him.
She instead told him to leave the cash in the park, which she later collected and then reported him to police.
In December, she introduced another 13-year-old girl to Jagroop on Snapchat.
They arranged via Discord to meet in a park at night for payment.
In the park, Jagroop grabbed her and locked them both in a public toilet cubicle.
He handed her $150, sexually assaulted her, and gave her another $100 before unlocking the door.
A covert police officer later assumed the girl’s Snapchat identity and chatted with Jagroop, who offered up to $500 to meet at the girl’s home.
He was arrested the next day.
Judge Moglia noted the girls eloquently told of the psychological harm inflicted on them.
Their parents also told of the “horror of not knowing what their children are subjected to online” and “not being able to protect them”.
“The harm that dynamic causes both to those families and our community as a whole are tragically significant,” he said.
Judge Moglia noted Jagroop’s guilty pleas, his lack of priors, his remorse and shame, and “a degree of insight … and victim empathy”.
However, a psychologist reported Jagroop’s problematic belief that girls were able to appropriately consent to sexual interactions.
He was assessed as being a moderate risk of reoffending.
Migrating from Fiji, Jagroop struggled to adjust to high school and had difficulty fitting in. He’d had superficial, brief relationships but nothing serious.
He’d gone onto social media platforms to seek out sexual contact, and conceded he should have instead sought help.
Jagroop was jailed for up to nine years and two months, with a non-parole period. He had served 920 days in pre-sentence remand.
