An Emmy-nominated Sydney cameraman has launched a foul-mouthed tirade after being sentenced for a raft of child sex offences.
Nathan Matthew Tomlinson, 39, was in 2018 convicted of 22 charges including having sex with two underage girls from 2011 to 2015 and producing and possessing child abuse material.
In the Sydney District Court on Wednesday, Judge Penelope Wass jailed him for 13 years and six months with a non-parole period of eight years.
Tomlinson, who appeared via video link and spent most of the 90-minute hearing with his head in his hands, made the outburst as the judge left the courtroom.
"For all the media in the room, there will be an appeal," he said.
"We will win it. It's pretty straightforward. This is a pretty f***ed up case."
In her sentencing remarks, Judge Wass said Tomlinson embarked on secretive relationships with two schoolgirls after first interacting with them at the ages of 13 and 14.
The Mascot resident groomed them over Facebook, took one on trips to the Gold Coast and the Blue Mountains, and arranged hotel rooms where they had sex.
Tomlinson plied one of the teenagers with alcohol before having sex with her for the first time in the back seat of his blue Hummer. She was 13 at the time.
When the girl admitted her age before her 14th birthday, Tomlinson was upset she had lied to him.
"According to (her), the offender then told her he was 24," the judge said.
"He was in fact 32. They had sexual intercourse after this conversation."
The father of two, who was aged between 30 and 34 at the time of the assaults, admitted having sex with the girls but blamed them for not disclosing their ages.
Judge Wass conceded she was "highly suspicious" Tomlinson always knew both the girls were under 16.
But his belief became "increasingly unreasonable" as the relationships progressed, she concluded.
The judge noted Tomlinson experienced a "significant fall from grace" after his arrest in 2016.
He had worked his way from being a news cameraman trainee to establishing his own business, culminating in an Emmy nomination in 2016 for outstanding aerial cinematography in the documentary Life on the Reef.
But he exploited his fame against the impressionable girls, the judge said.
"The trappings of overseas and interstate travel, his accolades, fame, the use of the Hummer vehicle and tales of a much more exciting life were used to impress (his victims) to great effect," she said.
"It is the very nature of this insidious, cunning and surreptitious offending that leaves many victims blaming themselves particularly when they go willingly with an offender.
"Only later on when they mature ... do they see what occurred in its true light."
Tomlinson's sentencing was delayed while facing trial on child abuse material charges for which he'll be sentenced on June 19.
With time already served, he will be eligible for release in 2024.
Australian Associated Press
