A Sydney high school teacher allegedly groomed a child for five years from the age of 13, forcing her to create sexual videos of herself and write humiliating words on her body.
Nathaniel Ballesta was suspended from his English teaching role at John Edmondson High School in Horningsea Park in Sydney’s south-west after he was arrested on a string of child abuse offences earlier this year.
Police say they found Ballesta, 35, in possession of thousands of videos and images exploiting children looking to be as young as six, as well as years’ worth of screen recordings of sexual content with the schoolgirl. While that child did not attend the school at which he taught, prosecutors said he used his position of trust “to identify and groom the victim over a prolonged period of time, during which the victim was subjected to sustained manipulation and abuse”.
According to a police fact sheet tendered to the Supreme Court as Ballesta was granted strict bail last week, NSW Police’s child abuse squad was alerted in May to a child abuse file that was uploaded to the cloud by an email address known to them.
After tracking down the owner of the account as Ballesta, detectives searched his house while he was home. He gave them the passwords to two iPhones and a computer. During a search of the phones, police allegedly found 200 child abuse files. The focus age group was between eight and 14, while at least one child appeared to be aged between six and eight.
On the computer, they allegedly found 4121 files saved in a folder which contained almost exclusively child abuse material.
Police allege the nature and extent of the material found indicates “a sustained and targeted interest in minors” and that Ballesta was “not only in possession of such material but actively involved in its creation”.
Ballesta was arrested and taken to Campbelltown police station.
Upon further searches of his phones, police found “innumerable screen recordings” of interactions with the alleged victim and a chat thread on the encrypted messaging app Signal with her. While he had deleted the Signal messages, police cross-referenced his Signal call log with his screen recordings.
‘The victim was subjected to sustained manipulation and abuse.’
Police fact sheet
Investigators allegedly found numerous examples of Ballesta procuring the child for sex and causing her to produce child abuse material.
“In the messages, the victim is expressing anxiety around the accused directing her to record videos of herself,” the fact sheet reads.
“Police have observed media whereby the accused has directed the victim to create sexual images of themselves involving written content on their person for the purpose of humiliation and coercion”.
Ballesta is also accused of calling the victim and directing her to engage in sexual activity.
The fact sheet states Ballesta’s “knowledge of the victim’s personal circumstances, including their residence and school attendance, gives rise to serious concerns regarding their ongoing safety, as well as the safety of other children”.
‘Police have observed media whereby the accused has directed the victim to create sexual images of themselves.’
Police fact sheet
Ballesta was refused bail upon his arrest and spent months in custody before his release on strict bail in the Supreme Court last week.
The court heard he has ties with the Philippines and Canada, but his primary support is in Australia.
Opposing bail, prosecutors argued there were unacceptable risks of further online offending and contact or attempted contact with the alleged victim.
“This is a matter where the known complainant has been contacted by the applicant for five years,” the prosecutor said.
“It is a persistent, long-standing grooming situation, and the Crown and police hold concerns for the ongoing safety of her in this matter.”
However, the defence argued that stringent conditions could sufficiently mitigate bail concerns.
Justice Sarah McNaughton ultimately granted strict bail on a $300,000 surety with home detention, daily police reporting and a ban on physical contact with minors.
Ballesta must surrender his passport, stay at least 500 metres away from international departure points and not contact the victim or any prosecution witness.
He is banned from possessing or using any encrypted messaging applications or internet-capable device, except to engage with government services.
Ballesta has not yet pleaded to one count of using a device to engage with sexual activity of a child, two counts of using a device to procure sexual activity from a child under 16, three counts of causing a child aged over 14 to make child abuse material, one count of producing child abuse material, one count of using a device to engage with sexual activity of a child and three counts of possessing child abuse material.
He will next face the Local Court in November.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
