Coroner delivers findings into teen's tragic sextortion death

Among the findings, the coroner recommended "empowering" teens to come forward if they find themselves the victims of sextortion, something echoed by Victorian teen Rohan Cosgriff's father Anthony.

"We had spoken to Rohan but we didn't realise that he was likely to be targeted," Mr Cosgriff said.

"We'd just like to stop it from happening to someone else."

Ballarat teenager Rohan Cosgriff was 17-years-old when he took his own life at his home in Miners Rest on July 26, 2022.

The St Patrick's College student was remembered as a "compassionate, patient and bright" young man who loved football and wanted to become a teacher.

The 17-year-old was the victim of sextortion by an international criminal when he built a rapport with a person purporting to be named "Christine", who messaged him on Snapchat.

Findings into his death from the Coroners' Court were handed down on Tuesday, with Coroner Audrey Jamieson looking into the circumstances surrounding Rohan's death and online safety messaging around sextortion.

Coroner Jamieson said on the afternoon of July 26, 2022, Christine suggested they exchange intimate images - "sending" a picture to Rohan before asking for an intimate image in return.

When Rohan sent an image back, the criminal posing as Christine immediately began making threats to send Rohan's images to others, unless he could pay an amount of money in exchange.

The blackmailer provided a deadline for payment of one hour from 8.47pm.

Rohan's father Anthony found his body about 9.30pm.

Coroner Jamieson said a note was found in Rohan's pocket, which said "I made a huge mistake. I'm sorry. I love you all. This is life ending."

Investigators from the Ballarat Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team were able to establish the offender was located in Nigeria, using Snapchat and Instagram data.

The investigation file was forwarded to the Australian Federal Police for further investigation, but no person or entity was able to be identified.

The investigation was closed and marked as unsolved on October 11, 2023.

Coroner Jamieson said in the past decade there have been 11 other suicides of young people in similar circumstances to Rohan's.

In her research, the Coroner looked at Operation Huntsman, an operation between the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.

The operation found the sexual extortion of young men in Australia was becoming increasingly common in circumstances resembling what happened to Rohan.

"The offending often starts with a direct message on social media but can escalate very quickly once a victim has engaged," a report from the operation stated.

"The teenage victim is usually asked to continue chatting on a different app where the conversation becomes highly sexualised and the victim is coerced into self-generating child abuse material.

"Once an offender has received a compromising image, they will use it to blackmail the victim with threats to share the picture or video with the friends and family on their social media contacts list unless they pay."

Coroner Jamieson said this was a "significant shift" in sextortion, where formerly the bulk of cases involved the blackmailing of a young woman who shared intimate images with a former partner prior to relationship breakdown.

"Now, the typical profile is a young male (16-24 years) sharing an intimate picture with a stranger online who is part of an overseas-based criminal network," the Coroner said.

"I believe that this issue must be addressed with some urgency to prevent further suicides in tragic circumstances from occurring."

Rohan's father Anthony said he was happy with the Coroner's findings, but that more education needed to be provided to teens about sextortion, beyond the typical online safety curriculum.

Coroner Jamieson found in her report a "wealth of resources" online for teens in similar circumstances, such as the eSafety Commissioner's website, which has pages titled "My nudes have been shared", "Someone is threatening to share my nudes" and "I'm being pressured to send my nudes".

Mr Cosgriff said it was easy for teens to miss this information if they were not sure where to look.

"This problem of sextortion, teenagers and their parents being educated about what can happen, what happened to Rohan, that is something that we need to continue to talk about and discuss," Mr Cosgriff said.

"There are websites that can discuss the issue, but we have to make sure that teenagers see these websites.

"Rohan had been taught about online safety in schools, but when it came down to it he wasn't prepared for what happened. That is why he ended up panicking."

Mr Cosgriff and his wife recently spoke out about Rohan's death and said the couple have since received many messages from parents who were unaware about the issue of sextortion.

He said the issue was "global" in scale, and required a coordinated effort to tackle.

"The other thing that my wife and I didn't realise until even six months ago is that it is a global problem, that hundreds of young men have taken their life in the same way Rohan did," Mr Cosgriff said.

"Just talk to your children as much as you can."

In her findings, Coroner Jamieson said a perception of shame among young victims often meant they were hesitant to come forward when the sextortion began.

The Coroner proposed a rethinking of the messaging given to teens, to "empower" them to seek help if such a situation arises.

"However, the fact remains that with all the education in the world, and no matter how many times the message 'don't send intimate images' is repeated, young people will continue to do these things, and the conversation must turn to should you find yourself in this situation, it is going to be okay," The Coroner said.

"To use two old adages - a problem shared is a problem halved, and this too shall pass.

"If a young person finds themselves in a situation like Rohan did, the most important thing is that they know they have not done anything wrong, that they are a victim, that there is help and resources available to them, and that the situation will not define the rest of their lives."

Coroner Jamieson recommended Delia Rickard, the head of a review into the Online Safety Act 2021, consider the circumstances of Rohan's death in her review, "particularly with respect to combating sextortion led by transnational crime syndicates".

"I would like to be certain that the Statutory Review gives sufficient weight to the risk of sextortion in circumstances similar to those which tragically led to Rohan taking his life," Coroner Jamieson said.

"I note that the public consultation process for the Statutory Review closed on June 21, 2024, however I hope that by distributing this finding to the Statutory Review, lessons can be learned from Rohan's death to inform the work of the Statutory Review relating to sextortion."

If you or someone you know is in need of crisis support, phone Lifeline 13 11 14. Help is also available, but not limited, via the following organisations. The key message is you are not alone.