A former member of religious sect that condoned pubescent child sex counted eight schoolgirls among his more than 100 sexual conquests who he met via an adult internet chat room, a court has been told.
The Brisbane District Court was told Nathaniel Francis Enright, 30, tried to procure a child as young has 12 for sex and actually molested or had sex with seven other girls - aged 14 and 15 - that he met “on-line” between November 2008 and February 2009.
The court was told Enright was raised as a member of the "strict religious group'' The Family International - known also as the "Children of God'' - and as a result had a "skewed view'' on who he could have sexual contact with.
Barrister Angus Edwards, for Enright, said his client, who left the sect at the age of 16, was raised in an environment which condoned sexual contact between children once they had reached puberty.
Enright, a former airline employee, was today jailed for five years and placed on two year's probation after pleading guilty to 51 criminal charges - including five of taking away a child for immoral purposes and three of having sex with them.
However, the sentence imposed will see Enright, who has already spent 15-months in pre-sentence custody, released on February 6 next year.
Enright, who was at the time aged between 28 and 29, also pleaded guilty to more than 30 counts of indecent treatment or exposing a child under 16 to indecent material or act, and eight of using the web to procure or groom underage children for sex.
Prosecutor David Meredith said Enright, who was at the time based in New Zealand, met all of his victims via internet chat rooms.
He said Enright would engage in explicit sexual dialogue with the children and encourage them to meet for physical encounters.
"The combination of (Enright's) offences is quite extraordinary,'' Mr Meredith said.
"(Enright was) quite persistent and there is an extraordinary number of contacts ... (with underage) girls willing to meet up with him.''
Mr Edwards said Enright met the girls via a chat room designed for people aged 18 and over - suggesting the children would have to have logged in as being adults themselves.
"(Enright claims) there were more than 100 women he met up with and had sexual (encounters),'' he said.
Mr Edwards tendered a psychological report which asserted Enright was not a pedophile, but that he simply had a compulsive addiction to sex as the result of his religious up-bringing.
The court was told even during his time in prison Enright's sexual proclivities compelled him to pleasure himself on a daily basis.
Judge Nick Samios, in sentencing Enright, said: "You procured some of these young girls to engage in (actual) sexual contact.''
"You appear to have a skewed view of who you could have sexual contact with because of your (religious) up-bringing ... (and you are) addicted to sex.''
Judge Samios said that addiction to sex resulted in Enright taking "opportunistic and indiscriminate'' steps to secure sexual partners.
