“Untreated” sex offender jailed after explicitly messaging ‘teen’

Friday 05 October 2018

A convicted sex offender has been put behind bars after suggesting a 13-year-old, who was really a local mother posing as a young boy, should be his “slave” on a gay dating app.

Stephen Edward Facchino, who said he had been drinking while sending “extreme sexual content” on Grindr, was jailed for 18 months in the Royal Court this morning.

He was accused of grooming, having attempted to meet young teenager ‘James’ – really local mother and self-styled ‘paedophile hunter’ Cheyenne O’Connor – after contacting him in June.

The pair swapped messages, with Facchino acknowledging his interlocutor’s young age, saying: “surely u [sic] must realise they/me would be very cautious as could cause serious issues if found out.”

Pictured: Facchino thought he was talking to teenager 'James', but was in fact talking to Cheyenne O'Connor, a member of the public who poses as teenagers on online chatrooms and dating sites to catch paedophiles.  

Later on, he started discussing sexual activities with the boy. Faccino then suggested “extreme” things he would like to do to ‘James’, Crown Advocate Richard Pedley explained in court. At one point, he said he hoped James would become his “slave” and that he would like to be his boyfriend.

Facchino requested to meet the ‘teen’ when they were alone around La Collette flats, expressing concerns that he would be found out. “Some pope are out to get people like me who like guys your age and stuff would like people like me locked up even tho I won't hurt a fly [sic],” he wrote.

Police officers arrived to arrest Facchino, who was looking “furtive” according to one officer, at the time of the meeting. The offender was later said to be "visibly upset" when he was arrested and his phone was seized.

But it wasn’t the 33-year-old’s first offence – he had previously been sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence for looking at indecent images of children in 2016.

Pictured: Some of the messages exchanged between Facchino and 'James.'

In court, he was described as an untreated offender, who had previously denied interest in young boys. However, psychological assessments revealed him to be at high-risk of reoffending.

Advocate Pedley said that his fixation with boys was such that he disregarded the fact his actions were illegal, and described his latest behaviour as a “disturbing development”, having moved from passive consumption of images to actively trying to contact a child.

He moved for a two-year prison sentence and argued that the fact Facchino had been drinking was no excuse.

Advocate Sarah Dale, defending, said that Facchino was disappointed to have let his parents down a second time, but thankful for their support. She added that he was happy that ‘James’ wasn’t a real child, as he understood the damage his actions could have had, and stated he was now “motivated” to change his behaviour.

Pictured: The Deputy Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq, described Facchino's behaviour as "highly predatory."

She added that his drinking, which had occurred because he was off work, had lowered his inhibitions. “Had he not been using alcohol that much, he would have rationalised and not committed this offence,” she told Court.

Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq QC, who was sitting with Jurats Rozanne Thomas and Collette Crill, said that whilst not child had been put at risk, the offence committed by Facchino was still serious.

“You exchanged communications over a short period with a boy you believed to be 13 explaining very sexual practices he admitted he was ignorant of," he said.

Describing the offence as an “escalation”, he expressed concern that Facchino had not used opportunities to address his offending in the past.

He ordered that Facchino remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years with a 10-year restraining order limiting his access to children online and in real life.

Handing down his prison sentence, he said: “The simple fact is that you discovered someone you believed to be an unexperienced schoolchild on a dating app… This was a highly predatory behaviour… Custody is inevitable.”