Parents warned of chatroom dangers

The conviction of a doctor for sexual offences with girls as young as 13 whom he met over the internet highlights the dangers children face in online chatrooms, the Internet Safety Group says.

Group director Liz Butterfield said Matthew Boyd's success in targeting underage girls through internet chatrooms and the girls' reluctance to contact police about his offending should serve as a lesson to parents.

"These guys are serial offenders, their efforts are concerted and they can have multiple relationships online.

"It's something that very easily goes under the parental radar, so that kids can be conducting these relationships away from their parents' protective, watchful eyes."

Boyd, 28, of Wellington, was jailed on Friday for two years after he admitted two counts of having sexual intercourse with girls under 16, and four counts of indecent assault.

The offending, relating to four girls from the Dunedin area and two from Wellington, happened between January 2001 and May 2002, initially while Boyd was working as a locum doctor in Dunedin.

He met all the girls, who were aged 13 to 15, over the internet.

Ms Butterfield said teenagers were relying on technology, through computers and mobile phones, as no other generation had and it was virtually impossible for parents to stop it.

Rather than trying to stop children communicating by computer and mobile phone, it was better for parents to educate their children about the risks and what to do if they felt they were in danger.

Cutting children off from computers would not work, as they could still be accessed in internet cafes and libraries.

"As parents we have to talk about these online relationships more openly so children feel freer to come forward when they are in a situation where they feel uncomfortable, but are unsure what to do."

One of the problems for teenagers was that they lacked any role models of how to behave with the new technologies, as many parents knew little about the technology.

"There is a lot we can do about teaching children about the realistic risks in using this technology and how to mitigate those risks."

- NZPA

NetSafe