Online sex tryst

Updated November 7 2012 - 12:25am, first published September 15 2008 - 11:47am
NO EMOTION: Barbara Case arrives at court yesterday after 112 days behind bars.
NO EMOTION: Barbara Case arrives at court yesterday after 112 days behind bars.

A 15-YEAR-OLD boy who met an American mother of three online told police that having sex with her made him ‘‘feel like a somebody’’.Barbara Renee Case, 36, has been in jail for 112 days since flying to Australia in May.She will be sentenced today on two charges of sexual penetration with a child under the age of 16.Case showed no emotion during her 90-minute appearance in the Bendigo County Court yesterday.Crown prosecutor Patrick Southey said Case met the boy through an online game called Runescape on Christmas Day last year.She told him she was 21, but later admitted being older.The pair wrote regularly and the relationship became increasingly personal.‘‘Flirting then led to messages of a sexual nature being exchanged,’’ Mr Southey said.Case then decided to fly to Australia from Virginia on the east coast of the United States, a decision the boy later told police he was happy with.‘‘I was excited by this,’’ he said.‘‘She seemed like a nice person.‘‘I was also excited about the thought of having sex with Barbara.‘‘She made me feel happy. She made me feel like a somebody.’’Case arrived in Melbourne on May 16, hired a car and drove to Bendigo.Case and the boy drove to a cabin she had hired at a nearby holiday park and had sex on their first night together.Mr Southey said that during the next 10 days, they had intercourse and oral sex a number of times. He said police became aware of Case only when the boy’s parents filed a missing persons report. A search of his personal emails led police to the cabin, where Case was found with him on May 27.When interviewed by police, Case admitted she knew the boy was 15 and that she ‘‘could get in a lot of trouble’’.Mr Southey said the boy refused to make a victim impact statement, telling police he was a willing participant.‘‘The victim clearly takes the view that he hasn’t been harmed . . . that’s a factor your honour,’’ Mr Southey told Judge Tim Wood.Case’s lawyer, Megan Aumair, said her client had a disrupted childhood.Case was raised by an extended family, after her mother suffered a series of debilitating strokes that left her paralysed.At 16, Case met her first boyfriend, a patient at an accident rehabilitation facility where she worked.After his release she moved in with him.Ms Aumair said it was going from one dependent household to another.‘‘Her life was the care of her disabled partner,’’ she said.In June 1995, the couple had a son, but just seven months later Case’s partner died of a heart attack.Aged 24, Case moved back to Virginia and met Phillip Case.They married in 1996, and after the birth of her third child, Case began suffering from post-natal depression.She admitted feeling suicidal and began taking medication.Ms Aumair said that in June last year, Case had a hysterectomy and it was then she was introduced to online games.

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

$0/

(min cost $0)

or signup to continue reading

See subscription options

Get the latest Bendigo news in your inbox

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.

We care about the protection of your data. Read our Privacy Policy.