A former deputy principal has had almost a year cut from his jail sentence after getting busted by undercover police while seeking sex from a purported underage girl.
Damian Wanstall had been sentenced to three years and seven months in July 2023 with a non-parole period of two years.
The now 50-year-old was sprung by police after posting an online classified advertisement under the heading: "Any legal Indian or Filo teens want fun".
The ad read: "40yo Aussie daddy seeking sexy play this weekend. Will reward. Can host discreetly Rouse Hill".
He was contacted by an undercover police officer pretending to be a 14-year-old girl, arranging what he thought was a meet-up for sex in the western Sydney suburb of Westmead.
Instead, he was arrested by police with $200 in his pocket and pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material.
On Monday in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, a panel of three judges quashed his initial sentence and unanimously imposed a shorter sentence of two years and and eight months.
His non-parole period was also shortened to 18 months and will expire on November 16.
The appeals court found that Judge Andrew Colefax wrongly assumed Wanstall had given false instructions to his lawyer at an earlier hearing in the Local Court.
In re-sentencing the former deputy principal, the court accepted the 50-year-old had been drinking heavily and was intoxicated at the time he sought out teenagers for sex.
Psychiatrist Dr Andrew Ellis told the court that alcohol provided an explanation for the out-of-character behaviour but did not excuse Wanstall for what he ultimately did.
The court rejected the ex-deputy principal's claims that publicity around his case amounted to extra-curial punishment, with Justice Deborah Sweeney noting that media reports "were not inaccurate or sensational".
However, the loss of his career as a result of the offending was taken into account as extra punishment during the re-sentencing.
In a letter to the court, Wanstall appeared to show genuine remorse for his conduct, saying he was ashamed, disgusted and appalled by what he had done, Justice Sweeney wrote.
However, he still cast some blame on the undercover officer and expressed regret for how his life had been negatively impacted by the crime.
The judge noted that he had positive prospects of rehabilitation, tutoring inmates at Kirkconnell jail near Bathurst and doing administrative duties for the educational services there.
The charge Wanstall admitted carries a maximum penalty of 15 years.
The NSW Department of Education previously said Wanstall had been dismissed immediately once convicted.
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National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
