Less than a week before his pre-Christmas arrest, a former Catholic priest offered to be a sex guide to an undercover police officer posing online as a 14-year-old boy.
Arrest and Charges
Guy Norman Hartcher, 79, was arrested on December 23, 2024, after attempting to procure sex from three individuals who claimed to be underage online. One of these individuals was an undercover officer who had been messaging the ex-priest through Telegram for weeks while posing as a teen named Ben.
Police arrested Hartcher as he sat in his red Kia at Pendle Hill in Sydney's west, believing he was about to meet the young victim. Video shows sex-crimes squad detectives handcuffing the retired priest outside a South Asian minimart.
The former Vincentian priest pleaded guilty in March to multiple child abuse material charges and to attempting to procure children for sex.
Disturbing Online Activity
Agreed facts tendered in the NSW District Court on Monday detail the depravity of the 79-year-old's online activity throughout 2024. 'There is no such thing as too young,' he told one user he shared child abuse material with in November of that year.
His online discussions with 'Ben' involved topics such as sexual intercourse, masturbation and his own sexual experience. 'This is me baby,' he said when sending his picture to undercover police. 'Way older but interested in talking sexy and being your guide to sex as much as you want.'
Hartcher tried to solicit sex from two other users claiming they were teenage girls on the Zangi app, offering them Apple gift cards in exchange for images. He told one user claiming to be 15-years-old that he wanted to be her 'dirty daddy' and discussed meeting up on Christmas Eve for sex. 'You will thank daddy on Tuesday baby,' he said.
In chats with someone else he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, he used the love heart and eggplant emojis. The former priest asked how the girl had not yet been sexually assaulted by her uncle, father, teacher, or classmate's dad. In chatting with another 14-year-old, he mentioned how he loved the 'little girl cuddly toy' on her bed.
Further Revelations
In another text exchange, Hartcher boasted about being able to train young girls so they became attached and ready for sex. He also said he found her younger cousin attractive. Hartcher shared explicit child abuse images and videos, including AI-generated material, with six others through Telegram.
Many of these texts and images are too explicit to report on, and included topics such as incest. He boasted about being able to train young girls so they became attached and ready for sex, telling one user he could share this knowledge. 'What I really NEED is a 12 yr old,' he wrote. 'I had one I raised and trained a few years ago but when she finished school I encouraged her to get a boyfriend.'
He also claimed a naked teenage boy he raped in a changeroom while on holiday in Fiji had yelled and tried to escape before settling down.
Background and Sentencing
Hartcher remains out on bail and will be sentenced in July. He previously served as the head priest of the Gresford-Dungog parish in the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese in the early 2000s but later retired.
