![\"Male](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/d390bae4a196c00d7140e76ff25abb46.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nA children’s author who sent sexually explicit messages to three underage girls has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n
Oliver Phommavanh, 42, was sentenced at Parramatta District Court on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was given a non-parole period of four years.<\/p>\n
The former teacher and author of the popular children’s book Thai-Riffic! was arrested in May 2024 at a home in Old Guildford in Sydney’s west.<\/p>\n
The arrest followed a police operation that involved assuming the identity of a 13-year-old girl and exchanging messages with Phommavanh online.<\/p>\n
His sentence was reduced by 25 per cent, as he entered early guilty pleas for charges involving minors and the use of a carriage service to engage in sexual activity, procure sexual activity, send indecent material, solicit child abuse material, and groom minors over years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Phommavanh was arrested in May 2024 after police officers assumed the identity of a 13-year-old girl. (ABC News: Simon Amery)<\/p>\n
Judge Peter Krisenthal said Phommavanh had used his prominence as a children’s author as a ruse so they would talk to him online, before turning the conversation explicit.<\/p>\n
“His actions were, in my view, clearly predatory,” Judge Krisenthal said.<\/p>\n
“The offender acknowledges the victims were vulnerable and unsuspecting, acknowledging he exploited their trust.”Lengthy conversations with three girlsSexual assault support services:NSW Health Sexual Assault Services<\/a> \u00a0NSW Sexual Violence Helpline on\u00a01800 424 017NSW Victims Services<\/a> on\u00a01800 633 0631800RESPECT\u00a0national helpline<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a01800 737 732Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service on\u00a01800 211 028Bravehearts (support for child sexual abuse survivors)<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a01800 272 831Child Protection Helpline on\u00a0132 111MARS Australia (for men affected by rape and sexual abuse)<\/a>\u00a0on (07) 3857 1222National Survivors Foundation<\/a>\u00a0on 1300 124 433<\/p>\n Phommavanh, who appeared over audiovisual link while in custody at Parklea Correctional Centre, showed little emotion as the judge recounted his offending.<\/p>\n Judge Krisenthal summarised lengthy conversations Phommavanh had with the three girls and an undercover officer from 2018 to 2024, describing behaviour that became increasingly more sexualised, including a video call where he was shown masturbating.<\/p>\n Phommavanh and the girls started corresponding when they were aged from 11 to 13 years old on the social media platform Instagram.<\/p>\n Two of the girls messaged him after he performed a presentation for their school.<\/p>\n He spoke to the first girl for five years up until she was 16 years old, which is when she reported him to the police.<\/p>\n “After three to six months, he asked to see nude pictures,” Judge Krisenthal said.<\/p>\n “She sent about six nudes in the first year, mostly of her chest. They were screenshotted by the offender.”<\/p>\n When she was 15, she sent approximately 20 nude photos to him.<\/p>\n “She told him about her significant vulnerabilities and what she was suffering from at the time,” Judge Krisenthal said.<\/p>\n Speaking to a second 13-year-old in 2022, he “fantasised about her being in a Disney princess outfit and [wearing] lingerie outfits”.<\/p>\n He visited the Bangkok school of the third girl in 2018, ultimately exchanging more than 5,500 messages with her over six years.<\/p>\n Undercover police close in<\/p>\n Judge Krisenthal said he used the pretence of character development for an upcoming book to send her graphic descriptions of sex that amounted to child sex abuse material.<\/p>\n But his transgressions escalated when he believed he was talking online to another 13-year-old girl, when it was in fact an undercover police officer.<\/p>\n The court was told Phommavanh provided detailed instructions on how to masturbate and would follow up the next day to ask what happened.<\/p>\n He also described in graphic detail sexual intercourse.<\/p>\n On May 16, 2024, he sent her an explicit photo on Instagram.<\/p>\n Police arrested him the next day.<\/p>\n Judge Krisenthal said Phommavanh had been in counselling for six months for “significant personality issues”.<\/p>\n “I do accept that, on balance, he is genuinely remorseful and his level of insight and responsibility continues to develop,” he said.<\/p>\n The judge said Phommavanh had been employed as a warehouse worker since his arrest.<\/p>\n “I accept that he has lost a significant career and is unlikely to engage in it in the future.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A children’s author who sent sexually explicit messages to three underage girls has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,242912,44,4277,242911,149417,242910],"class_list":["post-477195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-judge-peter-krisenthal","tag-news","tag-nsw-police","tag-oliver-phommavanh","tag-parramatta-district-court","tag-sydney-based-childrens-author-oliver-phommavanh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}