Albany paedophile Stephen Cornelis Van Der Ros jailed for more than six years over string of depraved offences

Albany man Stephen Cornelis Van Der Ros, 32, has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for child sex offences ranging from grooming girls online to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old while she slept. Van Der Ros was found in possession of more than 18,000 files of child exploitation material — including more than 1000 videos — after police seized his mobile phone on November 28 last year, the District Court of WA was told on Monday morning. Some of those files depicted infant victims according to State prosecutor Clare Stanyer. Sixty of those files fell into Category 5 of child exploitation material, involving victims between the ages of six and 15 involved in sex acts involving animals and/or bondage. Police had arrested Van Der Ros on November 28 after the mother of his 10-year-old victim had alerted police about another of the man’s acts of paedophilia. Ms Stanyer told the court Van Der Ros had left a sex toy and suggestive note wrapped in clothing belonging to the sister of his 10-year-old assault victim. In relation to separate charges, the District Court was told that Van Der Ros posed as fictional teenage girl on various social media platforms to groom young girls online. “The offender used this online profile to communicate with various children, including to manipulate them into providing him with naked images of themselves,” Ms Stanyer said. Van Der Ros’ defence counsel Jonathan Wagenaar said his client let out a “sigh of relief” when he was arrested by police because he was “actually glad that he got caught”. “He said because it became something that started when he was young and it continued to grow to a point where it became so out of control that he realised he was living in complete depravity and he was at a point where he couldn’t stop it,” Mr Wagenaar said. Before handing down her sentence, District Court Judge Audrey Braddock said she had “seldom” seen such a collection of child pornography. “Some of that material is of the most depraved kind. I’m not going to describe it here, in court,” Judge Braddock said. Judge Braddock sentenced him to six and a half years in prison backdated to November 28. “It's also clear from your very frank admissions that over the long term you have been involved with consuming child exploitation material for fantasy purposes and in effect for your own sexual satisfaction,” she said. “And that, as I’ve already indicated, is not victimless behaviour.”