Ex-teacher’s alleged child abuse web searches revealed
Tom Wark |
A former boarding school teacher accused of procuring a child for sex allegedly searched for movies and scenes of young boys being sexually assaulted by priests.
Data extracted from William Roberto Gulson’s mobile phone showed Google searches for terms including “gay child porn” and “young boy raped movie scene” in the two months before his arrest.
Gulson taught at Knox Grammar School in Sydney’s north before he was charged over his messaging with a 15-year-old girl, posing as a boy, in September 2024.
The 28-year-old continued to face a contested hearing on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to procuring a child under 16 for unlawful sexual activity.
The 15-year-old and another teenager were running a fake profile on LGBTQI dating app Grindr with the aim of catching pedophiles, the Downing Centre Local Court was told.
“If you accepted the date of birth on the profile, you could be forgiven for thinking the person you were talking to was 26,” Gulson’s lawyer Paul Glissan said.
Gulson also allegedly searched for videos on MyVidster, a site containing pornographic videos, with the search term “young boy” before allegedly searching for the term “gay child porn”.
The search results were the subject of a contested ruling as to whether they could be submitted as prosecution evidence of Gulson’s alleged sexual interest in children.
Mr Glissan argued the searches were not relevant and should not be admitted because they did not differentiate between lawful activity like accessing porn websites.
“If there are visits to gay porn sites, they shouldn’t have anything to do with this matter, in particular they don’t indicate a sexual interest in children,” Mr Glissan said.
However, the prosecution argued the searches were indicative of an interest in sexual activity with children.
“There is no innocent explanation for the accused searching for ‘gay child porn’,” prosecutor Jessica Chan said.
Magistrate Hugh Donnelly allowed the web search evidence to be tendered, saying the search for “gay child porn” was particularly relevant to consider when determining whether Gulson has a sexual interest in children.
The content of the searches made it more likely Gulson wanted to procure the fictitious child he was messaging for sexual activity, Mr Donnelly said.
The former teacher was “taken aback” when confronted at school by police about his messages and has co-operated with police throughout the investigation, Detective Senior Constable Martin Wilson said.
Gulson has been on bail since being charged and is expected to testify at the hearing on Wednesday.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Fullstop Australia 1800 385 578
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
AAP
