Courts have sentenced a youth worker who watched several live streams of a 6-year-old boy being raped to 11 years behind bars, according to Wales Online.
Darren Williams, 44, of South Wales, Britain, (pictured left) watched the live streams from a Pennslyvania computer between July and October 2015. During one broadcast, Williams wrote, “Prove the video is live and smack him,” according to the BBC.
Prosecutor Charlotte Newell said Williams would use an online conferencing platform called Zoom where he employed user names including Andy, Proper Perv, Dirty B******, and Sleaze.
Williams was captured after police traced his IP address. In addition to his jail time, the 44-year-old must also register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
“There was a man raping children with you encouraging him for your sexual gratification,” Recorder of Cardiff Eleri Rees QC commented. “You all shared responsibility for the undoubted psychological and physical harm done to the children.”
In February, a Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, judge sentenced the man who streamed the footage, William Byers Augusta, 20, (pictured center left) to 45 to 90 years in prison. The Carlisle man pleaded guilty to multiple charges including rape of a child, according to PennLive.com.
In addition to recording himself raping the boy, Augusta tied him up, beat him, and penetrated him with the handle of a hammer.
“I’m not sexually attracted to children. I’m not,” Augusta said in court. “I fell into some dumb things.”
In total, North Middleton Township Police recovered ten explicit videos and 50 images of child pornography from devices in Augusta’s home. Most of the videos depicted the man anally raping the 6-year-old.
One video police discovered showed Augusta and another man, Ira Task, 62, (pictured center right) simultaneously raping the boy while Augusta filmed. Task is HIV positive and has been aware of this status since 1994. He wore no protection and drugged the boy with an inhalant. In June, PennLive.com reported that Task was sentenced to 17 1/2 to 40 years in prison followed by 66 1/3 years of consecutive supervision.
“That’s probably among the top five most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard in my time as a district attorney,” Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said after Task’s sentencing. “There’s no way that this was the first time he’s done this.”
Task was also successfully sued for $88 million in connection with the rape. In January, a Dauphin County jury awarded the 6-year-old $38 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages. The boy’s lawyer, Ben Andreozzi, told WHTM that it was possibly the largest payout awarded in the county’s history.
The youth worker is the first of four men to be sentenced for watching the disturbing broadcasts.
Primary school teacher Wayne Brookes, 43, of Somerset, England, (pictured right) also admitted to making indecent images of children in the chatroom that streamed the rape. Somerset Live reported that Brookes pleaded guilty to four charges. His sentencing is scheduled for August 1.
[Featured Image: National Crime Agency (left, right), Harrisburg Police (center)]
