After confessing to distributing child sex abuse material, NRL player Brett Finch will unjustly live with the stigma of being a pedophile, according to his attorney, who said in court.
Finch stopped going to the gym and almost ever left his house because of his behavior, the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney heard on Tuesday.
The 41-year-old had submitted 300 failed job applications, was reliant on Centrelink benefits, and would face serious bodily danger from “hardened criminals” if imprisoned.
After entering a plea of guilty to one count of using a carriage service to transmit, publish, or encourage child abuse in August, Finch will be sentenced the following month.
He has acknowledged that uploading images of child sexual assault made him feel disgusted with himself, but he claims that he only did it to get cocaine because his drug consumption “spiraled out of control.”
According to Finch, he went on five-day binges and used 12 to 25 grams of cocaine every week during the height of his addiction.
According to Finch’s public profile, the impact of the extensive and continual media coverage of his offenses was “out of all proportion” to his real crime, according to defense attorney Mike Smith.
According to Mr. Smith, who testified before the court, “his possibilities of employment have been devastated by the media coverage surrounding this situation, which would not have happened but for his prior occupation.”
Although Finch’s behavior had been accurately reported, Mr. Smith said that the “casual reader” would still mistakenly think that “this guy enjoys having sex with youngsters.”
He will always have to deal with it, Mr. Smith added.
He is not a kid predator and is not drawn to children sexually.
According to Mr. Smith, Finch had strong chances for recovery, but first he needed to deal with his drug addiction, something he couldn’t accomplish if he was imprisoned.
Mr. Smith told Judge Phillip Mahony, “I believe Your Honour might be fairly persuaded there is no genuine chance of Mr. Finch repeating his offending behavior.”
Finch said in court on Monday that he placed “twisted” phone calls on the gay men’s dating site FastMeet because he believed “hypersexualized” users may be a final choice for obtaining drugs.
Finch said to the court, “I was disappointed in myself that I would leave these messages in the goal of getting narcotics.” “Those were inappropriate comments for me to have said. I now regret it. I feel nauseous right now.
Finch said the court that his primary intention in leaving the messages was to get cocaine and claimed to have learned about the service via ties with drug dealers.
Before resorting to FastMeet in despair, he said that during the Covid-19 outbreak, dealers were not on the roads and that he had tried every dealer on his phone.
Has there ever been a time when you were interested in minors sexually? Mike Smith, the defense attorney, questioned Finch.
Never, said Finch.
An agreed statement of facts submitted to court disclosed the messages Finch placed on the site, some of which included language too obscene to be published.
Yes, how are you doing, buddy?
In a mail received in November 2020, Finch requested.
My name is Brad, I’m 35 years old, and I’m married. I’d want to have a passionate conversation with a good 16-year-old lad about true kink and have a threesome with him.
A cute little 16-year-old surfer lad passes by, and Finch replies, “G’day buddy, married man, 39, strong bod, would love to go outdoors, you and me in swimmers.”
Finch exchanged texts in December 2020 in which he expressed a desire to engage in sexual activity with a 12-year-old youngster.
Finch admitted to making the tapes while “on drugs,” that he had not started any sexual discourse about minors, and that any mention of wanting to have physical interactions with teenage guys was “just s*** talk.”
After receiving a response from a user “who wanted to take me up” and referenced “granddaughters,” the retired football player ceased using the chat line in early 2021, the court heard.
After hearing the response, Finch realized his actions would encourage child exploitation.
He told the judge, “I was mortified. It made me completely ill.”
“I told him right away to f*** off and that he was a nasty f***.
I just wanted to choke the man over the phone.
Finch said that leaving the messages in the hopes of finding cocaine made him feel humiliated and disgusted.
“During that time, my drug usage really got out of hand,” he said.
Wayne “The Dominator” Johnston, a Carlton legend and member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame, is the father of Finch’s wife Elli. Finch has previously talked openly about his struggles with alcohol and drugs.
He formerly enjoyed success as a paid public speaker and generously donated his time to organizations, but he had since “lost everything.”
I can see why nobody wants to approach me, Finch remarked.
“I am the only one responsible for my actions.” I apologize for hurting so many other people, and that is what I did.
When asked whether he recognized his actions as a “inexact” technique of drug acquisition, Finch said, “It was a horrible manner and one I’m profoundly ashamed of.”
Finch’s offense was not sexually motivated, according to psychologist Chris Lennings, but it was crucial the former football player undergo “biological drug testing,” such as hair follicle tests, in the future.
He does not seem to have a sexual deviance, in my opinion, Dr. Lennings remarked through audio-visual hookup.
Two family friends of Finch testified late on Monday, calling him a dependable, kind, and kind guy whose offensive behavior was out of character.
Finch participated in 330 first-class matches for Wigan in the UK Super League and the Raiders, Roosters, Eels, and Storm in the NRL.
He participated in three State of Origin matches for NSW and won a premiership with Melbourne in 2009; however, the victory was later revoked for violating the pay limit.
Finch’s defining performance occurred in the first game of the 2006 Origin series when he scored the game-winning field goal for the Blues.
Finch served as a commentator for 2GB, Nine, and Fox Sports after his departure from the game, however he ultimately lost all of those positions.
On November 23, Judge Mahony will sentence Finch.