{"id":636062,"date":"2026-04-28T10:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/636062\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T10:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:58:09","slug":"gasps-as-ex-christian-charity-worker-avoids-jail-over-abuse-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/636062\/","title":{"rendered":"Gasps as ex-Christian charity worker avoids jail over abuse book"},"content":{"rendered":"

The author behind an offensive novel depicting toddler role-play has been emotionally rattled after being convicted but spared jail for penning child abuse material.<\/p>\n

Lauren Ashley Mastrosa, a 34-year-old former marketing executive for a Christian charity, wrote Daddy’s Little Toy under the pen name Tori Woods and published it through an online pre-release in March last year.<\/p>\n

The book \u2013 which was read by 21 advance readers \u2013 is about an 18-year-old woman named Lucy who role-plays as a toddler with Arthur, an older man who is her father’s best friend.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Lauren Ashley Tesolin-Mastrosa leaves Blacktown Local Court in Sydney. (AAP)<\/p>\n

Mastrosa appeared for sentence at Blacktown Local Court in western Sydney after being found guilty of three child abuse material offences relating to the novel.<\/p>\n

Judge Bree Chisholm convicted the 34-year-old and imposed an 18-month community corrections order.<\/p>\n

“I cannot justify a non-conviction ever being appropriate given the extent that the defendant wrote about sexual activity with such a young child,” she said.<\/p>\n

While Mastrosa had seemed shocked at her arrest and co-operated fully with police, she had spent months writing highly sexualised content involving a young girl that spanned chapters of the book, Judge Chisholm found.<\/p>\n

“General deterrence looms large and the sexual exploitation of children even from such an unsuspecting defendant cannot be minimised.”<\/p>\n

Mastrosa gasped, closed her eyes and covered her mouth as the sentence was handed down and she was placed on the Child Protection Register for eight years.<\/p>\n

She wore black and sat in the public gallery accompanied by her husband Adam during the hearing.<\/p>\n

Earlier, high-profile criminal barrister Margaret Cunneen SC argued her client had simply made a mistake.<\/p>\n

“She was planning to write an erotic book, she wasn’t planning to write child abuse material,” Cuneen told the court.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Mastrosa wrote the book as an escape after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer and having multiple miscarriages, the court heard. (AAP)<\/p>\n

There was no ongoing risk to the community as the books, which were about fictional characters, had been destroyed, the barrister argued.<\/p>\n

“She’s not a paedophile, she’s someone who wrote a book which offended against the law.”<\/p>\n

Mastrosa wrote the book as an escape after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer and having multiple miscarriages, the court heard.<\/p>\n

She lost her job as a marketing executive for Christian charity BaptistCare, had been exposed to online death threats and vitriol, and would never write anything like the book again, Cuneen said.<\/p>\n

Mastrosa was willing to undergo ongoing psychological treatment after being diagnosed with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder since her arrest, the barrister added.<\/p>\n

Crown prosecutor Milijana Masanovic pushed for a conviction.<\/p>\n

“The book speaks for itself. The matter’s an objectively serious one,” she submitted.<\/p>\n

The novel normalised child abuse material and fuelled the market of child exploitation, Masanovic said.<\/p>\n

She acknowledged character references shown to the court that described Mastrosa as a kind, charitable woman.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes good people can do bad things,” she said.<\/p>\n

In February, Judge Chisholm found the book sexually objectified children.<\/p>\n

“The reader is left with a description that creates the visual image in one’s mind of an adult male engaging in sexual activity with a young child,” she ruled at the time.<\/p>\n

Mastrosa was found guilty of producing, possessing and distributing child abuse material.<\/p>\n

She did not answer questions when departing court with her husband and her solicitor Michaela Mate stepping between her and reporters.<\/p>\n

She can appeal the ruling.<\/p>\n

The maximum penalty for producing, possessing or distributing child abuse material is 10 years’ imprisonment.<\/p>\n

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)<\/p>\n

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The author behind an offensive novel depicting toddler role-play has been emotionally rattled after being convicted but spared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-636062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636062","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=636062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}