A former deputy principal has had almost a year cut from his jail sentence after getting busted by undercover police while seeking sex from a purported underage girl.
Damian Wanstall had been sentenced to three years and seven months in July 2023 with a non-parole period of two years.
The now 50-year-old was sprung by police after posting an online classified advertisement under the heading: “Any legal Indian or Filo teens want fun.”
The ad read: “40yo Aussie daddy seeking sexy play this weekend. Will reward. Can host discreetly Rouse Hill”.
He was contacted by an undercover police officer pretending to be a 14-year-old girl, arranging what he thought was a meet-up for sex in the western Sydney suburb of Westmead.
Instead, he was arrested by police with $200 in his pocket and pleaded guilty to one count of using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material.
Today in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, a panel of three judges quashed his initial sentence and unanimously imposed a shorter sentence of two years and and eight months.
His non-parole period was also shortened to 18 months and will expire on November 16.
The charge he was jailed for carries a maximum penalty of 15 years.
The NSW Department of Education said Wanstall had been dismissed immediately once convicted.
