A South Otago man befriended a 15-year-old girl online and bought her soft toys before telling her she would pay him back with sexual favours.
During the online communication, he sent violent porn videos to the teenager, then threatened her life when she told her parents.
The man, 25, whose name is suppressed, pleaded guilty in the Gore District Court yesterday to exposing the girl to indecent material and the threatening messages in 2023.
The pair met through friends while online gaming in 2021 and began communicating through multiple social media platforms, the court heard.
The police summary said a relationship developed between the two, but the man’s messages became increasingly sexual and inappropriate.
He told her she should be his wife and move in with him, and talked to her about his extreme sexual interests.
He then started transferring an "allowance" of $100 a week to her.
The money was spent on items such as video games to a total of $2000.
The victim was told she would pay the defendant back through sexual favours when she moved "down south" to be with him, the summary said.
The communication further escalated, detailing the defendant’s niche sexual interests.
He would speak negatively about the victim’s parents, saying they were "caging" her in the house and that he would keep her safe.
He bought toys online and sent them to the victim’s address as well as pizza, and bought a $324 pair of headphones, which she picked up from a store.
Friends in their online group chat became concerned about the messages between the man and the victim, the court heard.
In 2023 he sent her a number of sexual images, including pictures of himself naked with marshmallows covering his genitals, and other explicit content.
The victim was 15 at the time.
When she reported the messages to her parents and ultimately police, the defendant told the victim he would shoot her and her parents, and would put a pipe bomb in her letterbox.
He called her a snitch and told her to harm herself, the summary said.
Counsel John Fraser indicated he would be applying for a discharge without conviction for his client.
Judge Helen Doyle made a referral to restorative justice, to give the defendant the opportunity to meet the victim’s family and make things right.
The man was to meet the family face to face, to understand the impact of what he had put online, she said.
If the family did not want to partake, the judge expected, "at the very least", a letter of apology to the victim and her family.
It was "about ... understanding what it might have been like for them to be worried about their daughter, to be worried about you", the judge said.
The judge said if the man was asking the court not to convict him on the two charges, he had "a bit of work to do".
Permanent name suppression will be argued during sentencing in November.
