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BRISBANE - A New Zealand man who attempted to seduce a 12-year-old Australian girl over the internet was arrested after travelling to Brisbane to take a job on a cruise ship more than a year later, a court has heard.
Shaun Kenneth Bannan, 30, of Auckland, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Brisbane today to one count of using a carriage service to procure a person under 16 years.
The court was told Bannan began talking online to an undercover police officer posing as a 12-year-old Brisbane girl named Isabella in August 2006.
Prosecutor Anthony Gett said over the next two months Bannan had several online conversations with "Isabella" and told her he would visit her in Brisbane and perform various sexual acts on her.
On several occasions he also instructed the girl to masturbate, the court heard.
He also promised to buy the girl alcohol if she came to visit him in New Zealand.
However, the court heard he ceased contact with her in late October 2006 and did not attempt to meet her.
Defence lawyer Greg McGuire said Bannan was arrested in January this year after travelling to Brisbane to take up a six-month position as a security guard on a P&O cruise ship.
McGuire said Bannan's arrival in Brisbane was in no way linked to Isabella.
"He was literally going to go from the airport to the cruise ship to start his job," he said.
He said his client had been abusing drugs at the time of the offence but had turned his life around in the year leading up to his arrest.
Justice Anthe Philippides sentenced Bannan to two and a half years' jail but, noting he had spent more than 270 days in custody since his arrest, ordered he be released immediately.
- AAP
