Pedophile who abused kids on Snapchat jailed

A pedophile sent three girls explicit messages on Snapchat while on a good behaviour bond. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)

A pedophile who targeted girls on social media, including telling an 11-year-old he wanted to get her pregnant, has been sentenced to more than five years behind bars. 

Darryl King, 56, faced Victoria's County Court on Monday afternoon via video link after sending three girls explicit messages on Snapchat while on a good behaviour bond. 

Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis sentenced King to a total of five years and seven months in prison with a non-parole period of three years and nine months.

He had pleaded guilty to three charges, including engaging in sexual activity using a carriage service with two girls aged under 16, and admitted to violating his good behaviour bond.

Judge Karapanagiotidis said King's messages to the girls were "sexually explicit and vulgar".

King contacted an 11-year-old girl on Snapchat in September 2022 and told her "daddy wants to get you pregnant, I'm going to take your virginity at 11 years old". 

He also sent explicit messages to two more girls, both under 16, and asked them to send him photos in return for "$65 million". 

"It is our little secret, you are my perfect type of girl," he told them. 

Judge Karapanagiotidis said the girls' families were deeply impacted by the crimes in the time since. 

"(The offences) have undermined her sense of safety and trust in men and exposed her to triggering events and impacted her behaviour," the judge said about one of the family's victim impact statement.

Another family member said she now does her best "to monitor her use of electronic devices and social media”.

King had been released from prison in May 2022 after serving 328 days of a 20-month prison term for accessing, soliciting and possessing child abuse material.

He was ordered to be of good behaviour for three-and-a-half years after his release and to attend sex offender treatment.

But within months he began searching online for "social media apps for kids" and "Snapchat for kids", prosecutor Holly Baxter previously told the court.

Psychologist Michael Davis, who had assessed King, said he was driven by "daddy dom, little girl fantasies". 

However, Judge Karapanagiotidis relayed King "did not have a sexual preference for pre-pubescent children" and got "caught up in the idea" of the fantasies. 

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028

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