Teacher 'victim of vigilante pedophile hunters'

A former teacher accused of trying to have sex with a teenager claims he was the victim of vigilante pedophile hunters.
A NSW magistrate heard on Wednesday how a vigilante gang had entered the home of former Central Coast Grammar junior school teacher David Beeby, and bashed and robbed him.
Defence lawyer Brian Walker told Gosford Local Court that Beeby was knocked to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked in "quite a vicious assault".
Beeby, 39, has pleaded not guilty to attempting to procure a child aged between 14 and 16 for unlawful sex at Terrigal in January 2024.
The police case against Beeby, who has since left Central Coast Grammar, was that he was at his Terrigal home on January 24 last year when he made contact with a person calling themselves Jeremy on the Grindr app between 11.30pm and 12.30am.
Beeby was allegedly using the tag name Tezzz when he started texting Jeremy.
Police claimed Jeremy asked: "Is 15 too young? Lol. I've done this before. It's just hard to find anyone".
Jeremy later allegedly texted: "I'm 15, I've done this before. I won't tell anyone".
Beeby allegedly replied that he had no problems with that.
Detective Senior Constable Miranda Faith told the court the former teacher had gone to police after being bashed and robbed at his home.
Det Faith said police were aware of claims Beeby had been trying to arrange to have sex with a 15-year-old boy and seized his mobile phone.
The phone was examined and found to have multiple Grindr chats between Beeby and others.
The Grindr app legal unit downloaded the alleged chats between Beeby and Jeremy, and provided them to police.
Det Faith said Beeby gave a statement where he claimed he believed Jeremy was 17, not 15.
She said the Grindr app chats allegedly indicated Jeremy was 15.
A person can still be charged with attempting to procure a child for sex even if that child is fictitious.
Beeby was allegedly attacked and robbed after leaving the gate open at his Terrigal complex for Jeremy.
Beeby's defence lawyer told the court the police case involved a lot of hearsay, with the people involved in attacking Beeby refusing to say who had been posing as Jeremy.
Mr Walker said the case was similar to one in the Tasmanian Supreme Court in 2019 where the chief justice found the accused, facing a similar charge to Beeby, had been the victim of entrapment by the witness.
The judge said the witness, from NSW, had described himself as a "pedophile hunter" who made contact with the accused on Grindr pretending to be a 14-year-old boy.
The witness videoed a later meeting with the accused and posted the recording on YouTube, claiming the accused was a pedophile.
Refusing to allow the witness's evidence, the Tasmanian judge said the witness had incited the crime through entrapment which put the accused at risk of violence from others.
The Gosford court hearing before Magistrate Rosheehan O'Meagher continues.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028

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