'Callous' social media predator Samuel Doughty jailed for sexually abusing five girls

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to child abuse.

A social media predator who displayed “a sense of entitlement” towards young women has been jailed for almost a decade after he sexually abused five young girls.

Samuel John Doughty was seen fidgeting in his seat while he was being sentenced to nine years and seven months’ jail in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday (20 December).

The 26-year-old must spend about five years and nine months behind bars before he is eligible for parole.

When he was aged between 18 and 24, he indecently assaulted a 13-year-old and raped one 12 or 13-year-old, two 14-year-olds and one 15-year-old between 2016 and 2021.

The details of his crimes have previously been revealed.

Doughty met most of his victims over social media platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. For four of them, when he saw them in person, he raped them in his car.

In one case, he tracked a victim down at a shopping centre using the ‘Snapmaps’ feature that had been enabled on her Snapchat account. This allows a user’s location to be seen by other users.

“You’re not going to enjoy this, but I will,” he told her before assaulting her in his car.

The day after he raped a different girl, during which he repeatedly ignored her when she asked him to stop, he messaged her to say, “It was fun, let’s do it again”.

When it came to another victim, he was driving her home when he demanded she have sex with him as payment. After he raped her, he dropped her at an oval and told her to walk home.

Justice Louise Taylor said his offending was predatory in nature and contained a “callous quality” that “demonstrates a sense of entitlement to use their bodies for his own sexual gratification”.

What he had done involved the “exploitation of their immaturity and naivety”, she said.

She also said most of his victims made their lack of consent obvious and he was aware of the age gap between them and himself. One of them had been raped in her school uniform.

The judge said the statements from the victims about the impacts of the crimes gave a compelling insight into the “ripple effect” of this kind of offending and contained “palpable sadness”.

One now has a debilitating fear of men, another “never stays happy”, while a third has extensive trust issues and experiences panic attacks.

Doughty wrote a letter apologising to his victims, saying he had “grown up” while in custody and recognised the harm he caused.

However, he had also described some of his offences as “hook-ups” and claimed he thought two of his victims were over 16 when he was talking to the author of a court report.

He claimed he spoke to younger girls because they were easier to talk to than older girls, but he was not physically attracted to them.

The report’s author thought he was minimising his conduct.

While Doughty has been working while in custody at the Alexander Maconochie Centre, he left his last community job, which was in construction, out of “boredom”.

He has completed a number of educational courses in custody, and Justice Taylor accepted there was a “glimmer” of rehabilitative hope.

Doughty, who is from Calwell, pleaded guilty to and was convicted on four counts of sexual intercourse with a young person as well as a single count of committing an act of indecency on a young person.

As his sentence was backdated to account for time served, he is eligible to be released in April 2028, by which time he will be aged 30.

If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732 or by visiting www.1800respect.org.au. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 6280 0900, and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.