Shegu Bobb, 27, leaves the ACT Courts during his jury trial. Photo: Albert McKnight.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to child abuse.
A man has been found guilty of procuring and sending indecent images to an 11-year-old girl he met on a dating app, but was acquitted of raping her.
Jurors in the ACT Supreme Court trial of Shegu Bobb heard he was 21 when he exchanged indecent messages with the girl over Badoo in February 2020 before he allegedly assaulted her in his car.
Bobb, now aged 27, pleaded not guilty to nine charges when his trial began earlier this month and jurors began deliberating last week before returning to the courtroom on Monday (30 June) and finding him guilty of seven charges.
These were three counts of using a carriage service for child abuse material, two counts of using a carriage service to procure a person under 16 and single counts of transmitting indecent communication to a person under 16 and committing an act of indecency on a person under 16.
However, the jury also found him not guilty of single counts of sexual intercourse with a person under 16 and committing an act of indecency on a person under 16.
The verdicts mean he was cleared of allegations he kissed and digitally raped the girl in his car, but he was still found to have sent her indecent messages and photos over Badoo then indecently assaulted her while in the vehicle.
Justice Belinda Baker continued Bobb’s bail and said sentencing would begin on 15 October.
In the trial’s closing submissions, prosecutor Marcus Dyason said there were two questions for jurors to decide: what Bobb understood the girl’s age to be at the time and what happened inside the car.
Jurors heard the recordings of the girl’s evidence before Bobb testified himself, repeatedly claiming he thought the girl was at least 19 when they were messaging over the app.
While the girl set her age as 19 on Badoo, she weighed about 30 kg and was about 140 cm tall.
It was alleged when messaging her, Bobb said, “Can’t believe you’re that young”.
When she mentioned his age, he allegedly said, “Yeah, that’s a fairly huge gap between us, hope you don’t tell anyone”.
After she got into his car, she didn’t say anything verbally to him and kept messaging him over the app, sending phrases like, “I’m so scared” and “I can’t do this”.
It was alleged Bobb drove them to an empty car park in Canberra where he indecently touched her, kissed her and digitally raped her.
That night, after they separated, he allegedly messaged her to say, “I’m sorry for what happened, I don’t know what came over me”.
In court, Bobb said when he met the girl, he thought she was “a petite 19-year-old”.
When the now-teenage girl was cross-examined, his defence lawyers suggested she had never told him she was under 18 when talking to him via the app.
“I’m not sure,” she said.
“But if I had this photo on my profile, I think it would be pretty obvious I was under 18.”
Jurors had previously seen the photo the girl used on her Badoo profile.
In the closing submissions, defence barrister James Sabharwal said the girl lied in both her interviews with police.
“You might think that often people who are on a dating app don’t ask supplementary questions of ‘what’s your age’,” he also said.
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
