>
Read the disturbing text messages a police officer allegedly sent to a vulnerable 15-year-old girl when she told her she was pregnant with her child and refused to have an abortion
- Probation officer Matthew Townsend allegedly bribed a 15-year-old girl to have sex
- He had met her days before when he went to her school to take her statement.
- He faces multiple charges and has been in pretrial detention since October.
- They reveal messages that he allegedly sent her after she became pregnant
Disturbing text messages allegedly sent by a probationary police officer to an “impressionable” 15-year-old girl he allegedly impregnated have been revealed.
The teenager, whose name cannot be identified for legal reasons, allegedly received a message from probation officer Matthew Townsend, 28, on social media in August of this year.
He was sent to her school just days earlier to take her statement on unrelated sexual assault claims and allegedly arranged to ‘hook up’ the girl on two occasions in August and September in exchange for vapers and alcohol.
Police will allege that Townsend then wired $800 to the girl for an abortion after she became pregnant, but was unable to proceed with the procedure and ultimately reported the matter to police.
A series of messages that the probation officer allegedly sent to the teen have been revealed.
In the photo: Matthew Townsend, 28 years old.
Townsend, from Gregory Hills, in south-west Sydney, was arrested and charged with two counts of having sex with a 14- to 16-year-old boy and one count of misconduct in public office.
He appeared in Campbelltown Local Court in October after his arrest, where he was denied bail, and in High Court earlier this month, where he was again denied bail and kept in custody.
Police will claim messages obtained by detectives and seen by the daily telegraph shows that he texted the girl asking if she knew who he was.
‘No, not really… do you know me from somewhere?’ She answered.
‘Yes, but I don’t know if I should tell you who I am… can you promise never to tell anyone?’
‘Yh’ she replied, indicating yes.
‘I’m the police officer who was at your school.’
Other messages show him allegedly asking her to “wear something sexy” when they meet.
“We have a problem,” she later wrote alongside an image of a positive pregnancy test.
Townsend reportedly responded, ‘What the hell?’
‘Surely you can’t handle the baby, you’re away from home, jobless and still young… Questions will be asked about who the father is.’
The disturbing messages showing Townsend allegedly trying to talk her into getting an abortion and her saying she can’t go through with it.
Later, he heartbreakingly asks her if she knows how much abortions cost, but then tells her, “I’m sorry, but I seriously can’t (have an abortion).”
“No one can know that I am the father,” he allegedly replied.
Court documents do not reveal whether the girl went through with the proceedings.
Townsend will appear in court in early 2023.