A web of sex chat with under-age boys

The most harrowing moments of the three-week trial of John Finnin came when the jury heard explicit sexual details from a conversation allegedly between a 15-year-old Auckland boy and the former senior Australian diplomat.

The court was told that Finnin offered financial incentives to a 15-year-old New Zealand boy in exchange for sex, telling him they would have ‘‘a secret together’’.

Finnin, 53, was standing trial in the Victorian County Court on 38 charges, including nine of entering into an agreement for the provision of sexual services by a child, and federal charges of using a carriage service to groom a minor, procure a minor for sex and transmit child pornography.

Finnin was found guilty on 23 counts and not guilty on six. The jury had earlier been instructed to return a not guilty verdict on nine counts.

An Australian Federal Police agent, Svetlana Palmer, tendered a copy of an internet chat session between ‘‘johnno’’ – alleged to be Finnin – and ‘‘tinyass15’’ from New Zealand.

The court had previously heard the AFP had placed an internet intercept on Finnin’s computer that enabled them to view his online history.

During the chat, ‘‘johnno’’ discusses visiting New Zealand in May 2007 to see the boy and paying him for sex.

‘‘I promise if I like you, I will keep coming and paying for you. We will have a secret together.’’

The Crown then tendered copies of web pages that Finnin viewed after the chat, which included a New Zealand holiday guide and the home page of Auckland’s Mount Eden Hotel.

The jury heard other evidence that Finnin recorded personal details of under-age boys he had met online. The court was told that a notebook and memo pads were seized from Finnin’s Sandringham home in 2007, on which were written details of online contacts including ‘‘16-year-old Hawthorn boy, swimmer, knows other boys same age’’ and his email address, and ‘‘15-year-old Sydney boy’’ and his email address.

Transcripts of online chats Finnin allegedly had in 2007 showed Finnin telling a 15-year-old American boy he would ‘‘love two boys – I have plenty of money and space to care for two boys’’. The boy told Finnin he had a 13-year-old brother and then allegedly discussed with him how the boys could come to Australia.

In another, he allegedly told an 18-year-old who questioned his age that ‘‘love is blind and you will find that out one day’’.

The court was told that Finnin, while using several online aliases, confirmed to other contacts that he knew that a 15-year-old Melbourne boy whom he was paying at least $100 a session for sex was under-age.

Finnin denied knowing the complainant was a minor. He told the Victorian County Court that while he did have sex with the boy, he was tricked into thinking he was of legal age after meeting him online.

After he first met a 15-year-old boy in 2007, at which time Finnin told the boy he was the boss of Firepower, the two met for sexual activity at least six times. The boy was paid $100 or $120 or given gifts – at one point Finnin told the boy he could ‘‘work off’’ a proposed $1000 loan.

Finnin had agreed to pick up the boy from train stations in his black Maserati, before taking him back to his Sandringham home.

The court was told that on one occasion, after Finnin and the boy had an argument, the boy told Finnin what his age was, to which Finnin replied: ‘‘I knew you were 15.’’

- © Fairfax NZ News