Sordid child sex secret from twisted Australian darts champion who watched Filipino children as young as 12 abused over Skype after he paid their MA
- Tasmanian darts champion has pleaded guilty after paying children to do sex shows
- Rodney James Bessell (64) obtained the children in the Philippines via their mother
- The father of three faced 10 charges after paying $100 to watch online shows
- The girls in the Philippines he watched were 12 years old at the time of the offense
A father of three has admitted he paid a Filipino mother to pimp her young children online so he could watch them being abused while performing a sex act on himself.
Rodney James Bessell (64) paid about $100 for the Skype shows in September 2019, the High Court in Burnie, Tasmania, heard on Thursday.
And the sordid abuse only ended when his horrified wife found out.
Rodney James Bessell (64) (pictured) paid $100 for the Skype shows in September 2019, before he appeared in the Supreme Court in Burnie, Tasmania on Thursday.
The darts champion’s sordid secret life began when he made an online acquaintance with a woman from the Philippines.
He met the mother via this woman, who arranged for the children to be abused for his satisfaction via Skype.
The father of three (pictured) met the mother, via another woman, who arranged for the children to perform the sex shows
The young girls were around 12 years old at the time.
Bessell asked one of the women if the children “enjoyed touching each other” and if they liked seeing his genitals, the Mercury reported.
He pleaded guilty to 10 counts of encouraging the procurement of a child to engage in sexual activity, engaging in a sexual act with a child (other than sexual intercourse), causing child abuse material to be transmitted and the possession of child abuse material.
Bessell’s defense attorney, Greg Richardson, asked Judge Tamara Jago if she would consider giving his client a suspended prison sentence.
But Crown prosecutor Krista Breckweg rejected the proposal.
“He knew these children were effectively being pimped by their mother and only stopped his behavior because his wife found out,” she told the court.
Mr Richardson also said Bessell had paid for his crimes and could not live in Tasmania because of the embarrassment.
He also said he is now unemployed.
The miner owned a jewelery and trophy shop in Burnie and was Australian darts team captain until 2019.
Mr Richardson also said Bessell was not part of any child pornography and none of the online victims had been penetrated.
But Ms Breckweg told the court Bessell knew the victims were under 16 and set up an online money transfer account to pay for the services.
She added that he specifically asked young children and said it was ‘nice’ if they were virgins.
The maximum penalty for encouraging the procurement of a child to engage in sexual activity was 20 years in prison, the court heard.
Bessell will be sentenced on October 21.
The miner (pictured) owned a jewelery and trophy shop in Burnie and was a darts champion until 2019
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