A former soldier arrested at a Perth base after sexually abusing a child he met online is fighting to remain out of jail, a court has been told.
Caleb Horner, 38, appeared in the Victorian County Court on Monday after he was found guilty on two counts of sexually assault a child under 16 and one count of involving a child in the production of child abuse material.
Horner was arrested in November 2021 and extradited to Victoria, where he faced trial late last year and was acquitted on 16 additional charges, including sexual penetration of a child.
The court was told Horner organised to pick up the child in February 2020 after contacting him on social media and exchanging “grooming messages of a sexual nature”.
He took the boy through a McDonald’s drive-through and then drove to Cheltenham Park, in Melbourne’s southeast, before placing his hand down the boy’s pants and causing him to place his hand on Horner’s groin.
The prosecution alleges the 14-year-old boy resisted, telling Horner he “didn’t want to do this” and didn’t feel comfortable but later froze up, while the defence argue there’s little evidence Horner was “persistent”.
Defence barrister Emily Allan told the court that Horner had grown up in a “devout” Mormon community and had faced intensive discipline and conversion therapy after revealing his sexuality.
She said her client’s offending occurred during a period of confusion after he was excommunicated from the church – with many family members cutting contact.
“This was a time when Mr Horner was confused about where he stood in the world,” she said.
The now administrative worker joined the army seeking “belonging”, Ms Allan said, and was relocated to Perth in 2021 when he experienced a “big fall from grace”, as he was arrested on base.
She told the court it was accepted there was a “degree of planning and grooming” in Horner’s conduct, but he had not offended in the almost four years since.
Ms Allan called on Judge Stewart Bayles to not send her client back to prison, arguing a sentence of 274 days time served and a community corrections order was appropriate.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, submitted the case was too serious and Horner should receive a jail sentence, arguing he continues to maintain he did not commit the offences.
His victim, now a university student, told the court that Horner’s abuse had left him blaming himself, now wondering why a child would choose to meet up with an adult and not tell his parents.
He said Horner first reached out online two years earlier when the student was 12 years old and he now struggled to let people into his life.
“Not a single day goes by where I don’t have flashbacks about what Caleb did to me,” he said.
“I don’t think I’ll ever not be afraid to see him again.”
Judge Bayles will hand down his sentence next month.
https://thewest.com.au/news/caleb-horner-ex-soldier-fighting-to-stay-out-of-jail-after-abusing-child-in-melbourne-c-16154488
