A West Australian man has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison after attempting to lure five young girls, some as young as seven, into a Broome restaurant toilet.
Johnny Bell was sentenced in the Perth District Court on Tuesday by Judge Vicki Stewart.
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The 43-year-old’s sentence was backdated to July 2023, following his conviction in February on five counts of encouraging a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual behaviour.
During the six-day trial, the court heard testimony from McDonald’s staff who witnessed Bell’s interactions with the children.
One employee described Bell as appearing intoxicated and recalled how one of the girls asked her to call the police.
Prosecutors presented CCTV footage and recordings of the girls’ 000 calls as evidence of Bell’s behaviour.
Bell was also accused of offering the children a $50 note to further his inappropriate advances.
“You were assessed as having high needs in areas of sexual offending, substance abuse, and pro-criminal attitudes,” Judge Stewart told Bell.
The court heard that Bell remained in the restaurant and playground area for over an hour. “You told the staff in McDonald’s the children were your grandchildren, so the staff would not intervene.”
Judge Stewart acknowledged his mental health issues but ruled that imprisonment was necessary to protect vulnerable children.
“I have decided the seriousness of your offending, the need to protect vulnerable children, and the need to impose a sentence capable of acting as a general and personal deterrent is such that only imprisonment can be justified,” she said.
Bell will be eligible for parole in March 2025.
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