Sex Predator Convinced Poor Families To Abuse Their Kids While He Watched Online

A retired senior public servant of 45 years in Australia paid poor Southeast Asian families to abuse their minor children as he watched the acts live online, a court heard.

Ian Ralph Schapel, 67, engaged in 74 occasions of sexual activity with at least 13 children in the Philippines over platforms such as Skype and WhatsApp, Australian news outlet ABC reported. He was also found to be in possession of more than 52,000 image and video files of child exploitation material.

Schapel, a former senior HR manager with the South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet, paid a "paltry" amount of AUD$30 ($22) on average for a live recording of his victims, who were aged between 3 and 9 years old, according to Commonwealth prosecutor Krista Breckweg.

"He preyed on the economic vulnerability of the facilitators and the children, acknowledging that the communication was usually initiated by the adult women who contacted him asking for money to buy food or medicine," Breckweg told an Adelaide court Tuesday.

"The offender chose the Philippines where he could easily and readily access young girls for sex given their dire economic circumstances and the absence of efficient law enforcement aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse," the prosecutor explained.

Schapel reportedly took advantage of the facilitators' "dire economic circumstances" to be able to direct what he wanted the children to do in the "shows." He would then threaten the parent or the facilitator of the child if they did not meet his request, the prosecutor said.

"You have tricked me for the last time, you made a promise, you and your daughter would do everything and again you’ve failed... you starve now," Breckweg said Schapel told the families, 7News reported.

Schapel pleaded guilty to 50 offenses, including 41 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child outside of Australia, using a carriage service to access child exploitation material and possessing child exploitation material. The charges were related to the 74 video calls Schapel filmed and saved to a thumb drive, which amounted to more than five hours of abuse of children.

Schapel also pleaded guilty to three counts of engaging in persistent sexual abuse of three children, using a carriage service to access child exploitation material and possessing child exploitation material, Australian newspaper The Mercury reported.

The Australian Federal Police reportedly attempted to seize Schapel's Mitchell Park home as an instrument of crime, but a deed of settlement in the Supreme Court allowed Schapel to pay AUD$165,000 ($123,560) — half the value of the home — to the force so he could keep it.

Chris Kummerow, Schapel's lawyer, claimed his client had a "wake-up call" following his arrest in February last year.

Schapel was "lonely and insecure" and treated the online conversations as a "form of escape" to what "was somewhat of a fantasy world," which resulted in him not considering the moral question of his actions at the time of the offenses, Kummerow claimed.

"He has come to realize that these are not victimless offenses and that he has directly caused harm to these children. He feels an incredible sense of remorse, pain and regret for that," the lawyer added.

Schapel, who has been diagnosed with a hoarding disorder, had to be moved to prison for his safety following a number of incidents, the court heard. He allegedly wanted to use his time inside to get treatment.

Schapel is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Paul Cuthbertson in February.