An Adelaide DJ and organiser of underage dance events who sent sexually explicit photos to four teenage girls has been found guilty of grooming offences.
Key points:
- Nicholas Emmanuel Athans worked as a DJ at several Adelaide nightclubs
- He sent sexually explicit photos to four girls via social media
- A judge said there was no possibility the social media accounts belonged to anyone but him
Nicholas Emmanuel Athans was accused of using social media platform Snapchat to send photos to four girls aged between 14 and 16.
He today appeared in the South Australian District Court, where Judge Sophie David found him guilty of four counts of procuring a child to engage in sexual activity.
Athans was the owner of the business Yeah Hard Entertainment, which organised high school formal afterparties, among other events.
He was also a disc jockey at an extensive range of Adelaide nightclubs.
Athans initially contacted three of the girls on Facebook Messenger after obtaining their details from an event he was promoting.
He then encouraged them to add him on Snapchat, which he then used to send them messages and unidentified nude photographs.
The messages included “come here now”, “sneak out” and “we should hang … I’ll make it worth your while”.
In delivering the guilty verdict, Judge David said she accepted that Athans was the user of the Snapchat account used to send the explicit photographs.
“To do so, the person would need to know the accused’s mobile phone number and PIN code, have access to his mobile telephone … [and] know other information about him, for example that he was a disc jockey and was organising the school formal afterparty.”
During the trial, the court heard Athans had offered girls free tickets to shows if they responded to his Snapchat messages or offered him something in return.
Athans will face court again in March.
,
