Disgraced former NRL star Brett Finch is fighting to avoid being sent to jail, with his lawyer arguing he could be targeted in prison, a court has heard.
Finch, 41, is will next month learn his fate after admitting to sending a series of sexually-charged messages about young boys via a gay sex chat service.
Giving evidence to the Downing Centre District Court on Monday, Finch blamed his offending on his drug addiction and claimed it was part of an ill-thought out plot to score cocaine.
He described the messages as “horrendous” and “sick”, telling the court that he did not have a sexual interest in children.
The former NSW State of Origin hero has been shunned by friends and suffered a fall from grace after he pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to make available child abuse material.
He told the court that the “twisted” messages weren’t an expression of fantasies about young boys but rather he was trying to elicit a response from other users who might be able to help him score drugs during lockdown.
During a sentence hearing on Tuesday, Finch’s barrister Michael Smith pointed to psychological reports which concluded that the former player and commentator did not display a sexual interest in children.
He added there was there was no evidence of him accessing such material.
“There was not a single search for a piece of child abuse material on any device,” Mr Smith said.
“There was not a single complaint about his conduct, not a single person has come forward despite the media publicity.”
During his evidence, Finch denied have a sexual interest in children.
Mr Smith further said that Finch’s offending ceased of his own volition in January 2021 before his arrest in December 2021.
“It’s different to uploading material to the internet where it can be shared by hundreds of people who are so minded,” Mr Smith said.
“This is not 100 people in a secure peer-to-peer network site using a virtual private network to share child abuse material.”
According to a statement of agreed facts, between November 2020 and January 2021, Finch used the FastMeet service to leave message for other men about wanting to have sex with pubescent and teenage boys as young as 12.
He left seven voice messages on the service on six occasions, on each one providing a description of himself before expressing his desire
“Yeah, hey mate, married, 39, good looking guy, smooth muscular bod, 6 foot, 85 kilos, 7 inch cut c***,” he said in one message before describing his desire to engage in sexual activity with young boys.
Many of the voice messages left by Finch are too graphic to print.
Mr Smith argued that he had been the subject of adverse media publicity and he would be a target if he were jailed.
He said while Finch had pleaded guilty to an offence, he was not attracted to young children and for the rest of his life be would be tarred by the charges.
“He is not a paedophile and is not motivated by a sexual attraction to children,” Mr Smith said.
“That subtlety will be lost on hardened criminals in prison.”
Mr Smith also said there was evidence of him suffering post-concussion syndrome.
He also pointed to Finch’s repeated attempts to beat his addiction by entering into rehab on three occasions.
Finch told the court on Monday that he was told by a drug supplier that he could use FastMeet – a male gay chat service – to source drugs.
As well, he claimed that during one of his three stints in rehab, he heard men talk in group therapy about methamphetamine making them “hypersexual”.
Finch explained that in his mind that if he left a “twisted” message, those that responded would likely be high and would be able to help him score drugs.
However, he left the last of his six messages in January after a user responded inviting him to meet up and engage in the abuse of children.
He says it then dawned on him the results of his actions and he told the other man he was a “sick f***”.
Finch was arrested when police raided his Sans Souci home on the morning of December 14 last year.
Finch had a distinguished 270-game NRL career which included stints at Canberra, Sydney Roosters, Parramatta and Melbourne.
He was a part of the Storm’s 2009 grand final win over Parramatta, which was later wiped from the record books because of the club’s salary cap cheating.
Following his retirement, Finch moved into the media and had commentating stints at Channel 9 and Fox Sports.
Judge Phillip Mahony will deliver his sentence on November 23.
