Some thought they were online with "Jessica", a young woman who sent graphic photographs of her younger sister "Ariel" and encouraged them to send similar images in return.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In reality, people across Australia, in the US and New Zealand were manipulated by Hayden Elstob, a young man from Somerville whose paedophilic disorder and desire for incestuous images led to children sexually assaulting their siblings.
Between March 2014 and March last year, Elstob posed as women on social media and had children film themselves performing sex acts or sexually abusing their siblings.
From his keyboard Elstob never had any physical contact with any children but his manipulations, the County Court heard on Friday, caused significant harm to a large number of victims and their families.
"I love incest so much. You and your sister are playing for me. I love it and I love you. I'm going to ask my mum if we can move to where you are," he told one American boy, who was later prosecuted for abusing his younger sister.
Prosecutors say Elstob coerced targets into performing sex acts involving a total of 11 children, while another 34 people, most of them children, sent pornographic images at his request.
Elstob, 25, was jailed for 12 years for offending which Judge Gavan Meredith described as calculated, corruptive and grave.
Others now face prosecution for crimes they committed at his request, including an 18-year-old Australian man, who abused his two-year-old niece and a New Zealand father who violated his children in front of a webcam while carrying out Elstob's specific instructions.
"Do I get to see pictures of your kids tonight?" Elstob asked the New Zealand man. On another occasion they discussed the father drugging his children with sleeping pills.
Elstob was stopped when federal and Victorian police tracked him down while investigating other child-exploitation offences. When arrested he told them he was relieved to be caught and admitted he enjoyed seeing the images of the two-year-old girl but was also repulsed.
Police found he amassed 4635 files of pornography on 10 devices, with 600 of them in the worst two categories for child abuse material.
Judge Meredith found Elstob built an online world for himself, centred on manipulating people through female personae. Elstob, the judge said, was a lonely, isolated man who was bullied throughout his formative years and after revealing he was gay, left school in Year 11.
A psychologist later diagnosed paedophilic and depressive disorders. Judge Meredith said Elstob's mother remained supportive and he was keen to begin rehabilitative treatment.
But the judge had to sentence based on the enormous damage child exploitation had on victims. In contact with one victim, the court heard, the boy said he was only 10 and Elstob replied he didn't care.
"Your offending continued largely unabated for a period of four years," Judge Meredith said.
"Your offending is serious, calculated, deceptive and manipulative. Aspects of the conduct which you encouraged were particularly grave, corrupting, and depraved."
Elstob, a former staffer at an accounting firm, pleaded guilty to 30 charges including encouraging sexual penetration of a child under 12, procuring a person under 16 to engage in sexual activity outside Australia, and child pornography offences.
His plea, the judge said, indicated a degree of remorse and a willingness to facilitate justice.
He has been in custody for 320 days and must serve nine years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
Family members of some victims were in court for the sentence.
