Former NRL player and commentator Brett Finch has been convicted of failed to report to police under child protection obligations following his high-profile child abuse, messages case.
Finch – who had a successful NRL career where he represented NSW in State of Origin – had a major fall from grace when he admitted to sending a series of depraved sexually charged voice messages about young boys in a gay sex chat service.
The messages between November 2020 and January 2021 detailed his desire to have “threesomes” with “sexy” teenagers
The San Souci father blamed his cocaine addiction and explained it was part of an ill-conceived attempt to obtain drugs.
District Court Judge Phillip Mahony described the offending as “absurd”, accepting it was driven by addiction and that Finch did not have a desire to abuse children.
Finch, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to make available child abuse material after he was arrested in December 2021, following a 13-month police investigation.
Finch avoided jail for the offence and entered into a two-year term to be served in the community in November 2022.
He was placed on the Child Protection Register for eight years due to the nature of the offending.
Earlier this month he spotted getting himself “back on track” by rising early each morning to work at a forklift training centre.
However gack before a court on Tuesday, Finch admitted to breaching a condition of the registry when he failed to report to police in November last year.
During this first mention of the case, Finch pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Sutherland Local Court.
Paul McGirr said Finch abided by all other obligations and that he had been to the police station seven times to inform police of a change in his personal circumstances.
This included when he went on holiday, changed his email address, joined a sporting club with his children and even when he borrowed his mother’s car.
Mr McGirr said Finch previously dealt with two St George police officers, but they went on long-term leave.
Mr McGirr told the court another officer, who Finch did not know, took over the case and charged him over the breach.
“The breach was an oversight, it was not the case he was trying to avoid police, they knew everything about him,” Mr McGirr said.
“It was not reasonable, but it was an honest mistake”.
Mr McGirr said Finch went to the police station when he was informed of the breach.
He said the breach was not serious and the judge in Finch’s child abuse material sentencing found he “had no sexual interest in children”.
Mr McGirr added Finch was in an online chat to obtain drugs while in the throes of addiction.
Mr McGirr said NSW Community Corrections, which monitors offenders, indicated it would likely suspend supervision because Finch had been “doing well”.
The court heard Finch was married with children and working six days a week but was “not a man of large means”.
The court heard his court appearances received a lot of media attention.
Magistrate Philip Stewart said a conviction was warranted given the “very clear obligations” for people obligated to follow registry requirements.
Mr Stewart accepted the nature of the breach was at the “lower end” but warned “don’t let the mistake happen again”.
Outside court, Mr McGirr said Finch would not appeal the conviction and he would look to “move on with his life”, stressing his client has no sexual interest in children.